The Future Cities Catapult is one of seven ‘Catapults’ launched by the UK’s Technology Strategy Board – an innovation agency with the goal to accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation.

To help with conceptual strategy and spatial design of the Urban Innovation Centre in their new home located in London’s historic Clerkenwell neighborhood, Future Cities Catapult brought in Eight Inc.

By bringing together the UK’s top designers, academics and business professionals, creating a space with multiple possibilities for the different types of thinking that the Innovation Centre brought in was absolutely necessary. Preserving and highlighting the Victorian building and its industrial heritage and adding a contemporary layer of 21st century technology combined with modern materials, we create a focus on the work of the Catapult to showcase purpose and ambition of the Urban Innovation Centre.

The primary focus was to create an open and porous environment that draws the public in while at the same time providing state of the art facilities and a professional working environment for a modern, mobile, research-based organization.

Rather than a traditional office building the Innovation Centre has been conceived as a platform for experts from various business backgrounds and disciplines to collaborate and work together on a variety of projects: small and medium sized businesses, financial investors, city leaders, researchers and students will join forces in project teams of various sizes and constellations depending on size, scope and duration of each project. This team-based approach is reflected in the spatial organization of the building.

With the mission of promoting healthy cities, building resilience in urban infrastructure, and designing strategies to help cities adopt and finance smarter technologies the design speaks to their purpose. The space allows them to have the flexibility to create an adaptable environment while allowing for the interaction of technology and the ability to find urban solutions.