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Shepherds Bush Pavilion Hotel - The Shepherds Bush Pavilion has been converted into a four-star, 317 room Dorsett Hotel. Grade II listed and original constructed as a cinema in 1923, the building endured heavy damage during World War II and had fallen into disrepair. The conversion of the building into a hotel recognises and preserves the Pavilions external civic character, reinforcing the formal qualities of the building and generating the new use within the original architectural form.
The design concept was derived from a detailed understanding of the building’s history and context. The key development from the original building is the need to bring light and views into the hotel on all levels. The ‘black-box’ nature of the cinema meant most of the facades were solid brick walls with little street activity other than the formal entrance. The scheme builds on the original award-winning brick façade, with minor alterations to ensure natural light within the hotel rooms behind, and recreates the original roof form using glazed ‘ shingles’ instead of the original asphalt roofing, while following the original curved profile. This allows light within the upper floors of the scheme, and creates an elegant conclusion to the form of the pavilion on Shepherd’s Bush Green. This solution achieves a careful balance between old and new, mooring the projects pivotal position in Shepherd’s Bush, a catalyst for the continuing regeneration of the area.
The cinema’s solid brick side wall have been replaced by a screen of terracotta baguettes – designed to appear solid from the street - behind which is a fully glazed wall to the bedrooms. This approach has resulted in a wonderful quality of light and views for the hotel rooms, with the terracotta baguettes appearing from the interior as a large scale venetian blind. To incorporate the new hotel functions, the interiors of the building were mainly removed. However the hotel’s interior architectural sequence is derived from the hierarchy of space in the original design and begins with the triumphal arch, which has been formed as a quarter dome to mirror the form of the corners of the external roof. This leads into a lower foyer, arranged in a similar configuration to the original cinema foyer, including a reference to the original circular floor decoration which marked the centre of the foyer and entrance to the cinema. The theme of the golden age of cinema is picked up in a series of art deco inspired curved roof vaults in the foyer space. Vertical circulation to the upper bedroom floors is located in a similar position to the original circulation core at the west end of the ‘tower’. The foyer leads to the two restaurants, one to the south and the other on the eastern façade facing the Green. The atrium is the real surprise.
It opens off the foyer, and rises to the full height of the building creating an impressive focal point for the hotel around which the upper floors are wrapped in a series of golden hoops which mirror the external roof form.
OUTCOME - The former cinema was and still is the most imposing building on The Green. It is a building exhibiting a finite form, or figurative nature, rather than a mere perimeter building like most around The Bush. The figurative nature arises from its three-dimensional expression both in the pavilioned end and barrel- vaulted roof. This duality is heightened by the large scale exhibited in the two parts, broken only by secondary but still large-scale divisions. We have attempted with our proposal to complete the form of the building which sits as a pavilion on Shepherd’s Bush Green. The aim has been to rationalise the facades and give the building a homogeneity which it currently lacks. We have achieved this in a contemporary way which complements and refines the original character of the building. This idea seemed to unlock the future potential of this building, complementing its form and reinforcing its original spirit. We believe that this solution achieves a careful balance between old and new, mooring it’s pivotal position in Shepherd’s Bush, a catalyst for the continuing regeneration of the area.
INCLUSIVE DESIGN - Creating an inclusive environment for all users was central to the design of the hotel , and David Bonnet Associates, ensured the hotel is accessible to all, including of a number of fully accessible rooms across all floors of the building and in all orientations.
Flanagan Lawrence is an award-winning, design-led practice of architects, masterplanners and interior designers based in London.
The practice has an impressive collective expertise across a broad range of public and private sectors and building typologies including large-scale commercial projects and high-end residential schemes, as well as cultural, hotel and leisure, education, infrastructure, logistics, business parks and major masterplanning projects both in the UK and internationally.
Working in a dynamic studio environment, our work process is driven by analysis, creativity and rigorous commercial understanding. We are dedicated to the creation of fresh and progressive architecture.
Flanagan Lawrence has worked with a diverse body of clients in both the private and public sectors.
