London City Island Lounge and Kitchen

Situated at the prestigious City Island Development and located opposite the new English National Ballet School, Common Ground Workshop were commissioned to crate a concept for a hybrid community and retail space that could both serve as a common meeting point and local ‘lounge’ to strengthen the connection between people and place and also reach out to and enhance the surrounding public realm. The space would in effect give rise to a lasting local community asset alongside the retail and workspace offer.
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The brief called for an innovative consideration of how multiple retail, co-working and community functions could co-exist within an attractive and approachable interior space that could remind the occupant of ‘Home’. The design language adopted alludes to this essence of a homely space by breaking down the common boundaries between front and back of house, and offering a common kitchen, a dining space and a lounge concept brought to life through application of joinery and tactile materiality, planting and furnishing, and attractive locally sourced visual merchandising.
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Common Ground Workshop are regularly commissioned to undertake feasibility and strategic operational exercises for new and existing sites and have successfully delivered a number of concepts that have attracted long term tenants to commercial, workspace and high street retail units. Specialising in placemaking concepts that focus on creating hybrid and flexible retail, co-working and community spaces, and that deliver ‘Place-ID’ by fostering lasting community connections, Common Ground Workshop are currently engaged at development in a diverse range of schemes at sites across London and the South-East.