Battersea Power Station Cinema

Following ‘The Cinema at Selfridges’ for the same client, FDA were invited to design a new cinema in the highly prestigious and iconic Battersea Power Station redevelopment on the river Thames.

Intended to be central to the development’s cultural strategy, the 2-screen cinema is bespoke and luxurious, even offering private viewing ‘Loges’, similar to a theatre box, for the most intimate experience as well as general seating.

The customer experience is of a rich and textured environment. Lighting is soft, low and warm, shadows are deep, and harshness avoided.

Designed in collaboration with ARC Cinema Solutions and Dolby Cinema, for the larger of the two screens, every viewing and listening angle was first modelled and detailing exacted to ensure the best audience experience.

Every possible distraction from the screen was rigorously designed out, even the speakers are carefully concealed behind fabric, giving no clues of where the immense and dizzying sound comes from so nothing can diminish the audience’s sense of immersion.

Selfridges Super-Loos

Selfridges & Co briefed FDArchitecture to develop an innovative new concept for their staff and customer washroom facilities across the store. This project provides a blueprint for private, comfortable, flexible, and inclusive spaces, in line with Selfridges ethos. In this instance, this also meant introducing rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing from water collected on the central London stores roof. This environmentally conscious space has been delivered to the highest hygiene and operational standards.

The scheme provides 14 new, gender neutral, single occupancy and self-contained washrooms with a shared grooming and make up area to maximise available floor area.

The palette of finishes was deliberately kept simple, only distinguishing between cubicle types through the differing shades of tile and countertops.

SELFRIDGES CINEMA

The Cinema at Selfridges is the result of an exclusive partnership with one of London film fans’ favourite independent boutique cinema, the Olympic Studios, which has much loved locations both in Barnes and Battersea. Selfridges is the first department store in the world to install a permanent cinema.

Designed by Selfridges in-house team and FDArchitecture, it’s got three screens in total: a 70-seat main screen, a second 59-seater, and a third 28-seater, and they’re all filled with curved rows of lush, reclining Norwegian seats.

Luxury aside, the thing that makes the Olympic-operated screens great is the sound. The three-screen facility is fitted with the latest state-of-the-art sound and vision technology.

Funky bar and snack areas serve cocktails and food on demand underpinning it all for pre/post drinks.

The outside entrance on Duke Street, which has been the focus of a £300m investment and masterplan based on the never-realised ambition of its US founder Harry Gordon Selfridge to create a unified block within the Oxford Street, Orchard Street, Wigmore Street and Duke Street quadrant.

Volkswagen Flagship Showroom Concept

Concept Design by FDArchitecture; Volkswagen well understand that the experience of their customer begins well before they ever drive one of their cars and exists well beyond then in the realms of memory and imagination as well as the day to day.

For a car manufacturer, time spent in the showroom can be pivotal in telling their story and providing their customers with the certainty and desire to buy into the brand.

However, Volkswagen Group (UK) considered their existing offer to lack the same potency and strength as their products so, following several successful projects with a focus on ‘customer experience’, FDArchitecture were invited by VWG (UK) to provide concept designs for their flagship West London showroom.

Our concept was to take the customer on a figurative journey which began with the arrival and ended with the hand-over of keys to a new car, and on this journey each customer is gently reminded of the depth and history of the brand, it’s permeation into the popular imagination and universally held, often warm, memories of what the brand represented. FDA sought to subtly underline that vibrancy and vitality the brand then processed and draw this from past, through present and well into the future where customers were invited to enjoy how VW envisaged that future might be.