Great Portland Estates commissioned Conran and Partners to redesign the ground floor of 200 Gray’s Inn Road, home to a number of high-profile media organisations including ITN Productions, ITV and Warner Bros. Originally designed by Foster + Partners and opened in 1991, the conventionally-configured office reception failed to respond to the changing work culture of modern tenants and was used only as an entry point to the wider building.

200 Gray’s Inn Road has been designed to reimagine a new type of ground floor space that interweaves office reception, private members club, café culture and hotel experience; blurring the edges between work and play. Within the building we have designed confident and distinctive spaces that create intimate and human places to work or relax without watering down the sense of theatre. The design responds to the changing work culture of modern tenants, ultimately giving the space a new lease of life.

The project personifies our ethos and experience of curating ways of living and applies this to a commercial space. It highlights how it is possible to draw on experience from numerous sectors blending the boundaries between work and leisure to create strong, characterful places that have not only changed the culture, atmosphere and ethos of the building but also how its users work. The project illustrates that through flexible and adaptable design we can future proof a building.