Emerging architectural practice Feilden Fowles crafts a sleek headquarters for watch brand Uniform Wares in Shoreditch.

Speaking to the clean and minimal aesthetic of both the brand’s identity and timepieces, the monochome interior encompasses a showroom and design studio complete with an active, prototyping workshop. Beginning with a glazed facade overlooking the street and continuing through to the glass-walled workshop, transparent enclosures give passersby as well as visitors a literal window into the company’s inner workings. A palette of reflective laminate surfaces and tidy drawers filled with craftsman tools, If the chance to see computer screens in the heat of creative processes doesn’t attract the attention of onlookers, then the potential voyeuristic rush from watching watchmakers in white lab coats tinker with leather and metal rings surely will.

Pivotal to the headquarters’ spatial circulation, the contained work space acts as a buffer between the showroom and production area. Alongside the workshop, a full-height pivot door of solid timber can be turned for a sense of division between functions within the headquarters – all while making a bold statement. Amidst the surface of striations derived from the Uniform Wares logo, a secondary portal enveloped by the primary threshold enables movement through the interior while maintaining a muted presence until needed. Within the office,

Design: Feilden Fowles
Photography: Ed Reeve

via Frameweb