Living nearby, we found that though Kensington High Street was a premier shopping street in a fine central London district, it lacked a good focal meeting place. There was a small triangular space-left-over-in-planning, then containing a triangular planter, before a boxy office block of the 1970's built at an angle to the street. We drew up a tall colonnaded hall, intended as a cafe at times, at others a place for local meetings and events, for the site, and discussed it with the planners on our own initiative. The project was backed by the building owners, who had it detailed and built by others with a mezzanine level, purely as a cafe. It proved highly successful, and received a special environment award from Kensington and Chelsea.

 

Client: Michael Gold

Architects: Michael Gold Architects