Atelier 93

Location: Formby, Merseyside

Project: Commercial Conversion and Renovation

Notes: A prominent site

New office space representing our business and location.

A project close to home, Wickstead Developments are exploring options for a new office space. Our plan is to add a new floor to a former kitchen showroom, and completely redesign the external appearance and landscape to maximise the prominent corner plot. Atelier 93, will become our brand-new loft design studio on the first floor, with a kitchen showroom on the ground floor. The opportunity to use some of our favourite materials - zinc, Corten steel and board-form concrete - could not be missed.

The two businesses will have their own distinct entrances announced with monolithic board-form concrete. A tactile use of this industrial material, softened and given character by leaving the imprinted finish of the timber shutters. Standing seam zinc will be used for the side walls and roof, creating a barn form that nods to the building’s rural location on the edge of Sefton Greenbelt. This analogy is continued with stepped batten timber cladding to the gables and around the ‘pod’ windows. The timber acts as a natural juxtaposition to the harder concrete and metal, and the stepped profile provides a beautiful play of light and shadow across the otherwise flat gables. Corten, an oxidised steel alloy, will be used for the perimeter boundaries and signage, while the undulating boundary fins reference the famous Formby sand dune system.