Woods Bagot worked in collaboration with interior designer Joyce Wang Studio to convert the ground, basement and mezzanine levels of 12 St. James’s Street into a boutique health and fitness club for client, E by Equinox. The first of its kind in London, this project has been dubbed “the UK’s swankiest gym” (The Daily Telegraph, 2018).

Prior to its transformation, the building was originally a bank, sitting within the highly prominent St. James’s conservation area. Designs were therefore carefully considered to compliment the site’s heritage and comply with planning and external alterations were kept to a minimum.

Internally, and in conjunction with the Equinox values, members are met with a gym that goes above and beyond the everyday. Speciality spaces have been created not just for exercise, but to relax, refuel and shop within a member’s club like environment. In each space, the interiors utilize modern and industrial materials that blend successfully with the more traditional details of the original space, which presented an impressive scale and character-filled backdrop to the club.

At the heart of this conversion is a bold architectural intervention; a monumental staircase connecting the ground and mezzanine levels.