A community arts venue in Hackney Wick commissioned by the London Legacy Development Corporation as part of the ‘Olympic Fringe’.

The ‘Olympic Fringe’ is a string of small-scale projects aimed at stitching the Olympic Park into the surrounding city fabric. ‘The White Building’ project was won through invited competition by DKA in collaboration with Exploration Architecture, specialists in environmentally sustainable design.

The project is situated in Hackney Wick, a former industrial area now home to the highest concentration of artists’ studios in Europe. A disused print works was refurbished to provide artists’ studio spaces, a group studio, a hire space with views of the Olympic Park and a brewery. The White Building now provides one of the few public faces to the established artistic community in the area.

On the ground floor, concrete block walls and steel framed windows were used to create the feel of an outdoor courtyard that connected to the adjacent canalside. On the first floor, sheeps wool stuffed into red nets was suspended from the ceiling to create a distinctive interior with excellent thermal and acoustic performance. New entrances to each part of the building allow it to function as both a single venue and a constellation of smaller spaces as needed.

The White Building was commended in the New London Awards 2013 and is shortlisted for a Retrofit Award 2013.