iQ Bloomsbury
The refurbishment of an existing 171-apartment student accommodation facility in the capital for long-time client iQ, located on London’s Euston Road and focusing on the student amenity spaces on the ground and lower-ground floors of a 7-floor building, as well as a private dining facility and TV/cinema lounge on the 5th storey.
Brief
The brief was to create a series of differentiated, but interlinking spaces, for students to gather and socialise, but also to study and have quiet time. The range of spaces included a lower-ground gym, a ground floor reception (with back-of-house offices for staff), a study area, games zone and teapoint, with private dining and TV lounge on the 5th floor. The design needed to reference the building’s context as well as iQ’s corporate signature colours.
Concept
The design concept for the scheme took inspiration from the building’s original 1937 construction in the art deco era and that of the many notable neighouring buildings in the Bloomsbury area. Elegant and geometric shapes with strong lines pull the scheme together visually, with deco-influenced detail seen in the metal patterns on the main entrance doors, which is used again in timber on the seating framework in the study area, as well as lighting and a further bespoke geometric pattern used for the reception deskfront and internal column detailing.
