ENTIQ and DV4 have selected Grimshaw to design Europe’s largest innovation centre at Here East, London’s 1.2 million square foot digital and creative campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The centre will act as a dynamic tool for growth in east London while creating a new tech hub for the UK.
Grimshaw's concept for the 6,750 sq m centre looks to the future of the creative workplace, with adaptive modular environments and flexible space distribution. The centre will house an ‘eco-system’ of spaces that are permeable and flexible, responding to the needs of the innovative corporate companies and start-ups it will house.
It will also provide a testing ground for the production and demonstration of new ideas with an in-house Maker’s Lab. The centre's occupants will have the tools and technologies to transform their ideas into functional and essential products for daily living.
Grimshaw Partner, Jolyon Brewis said, “We are thrilled to be chosen to design this visionary project which will accelerate London’s position as a world-leading technology hub. The project brings together our thinking on urban design, architecture and product design to create a unique environment for innovation.”
Claire Cockerton, ENTIQ’s co-founder and CEO of the new innovation centre, said, “Working with Grimshaw, we are bringing design thinking, product innovation, and new ways of working with smaller and local suppliers into the core of this project. This is critically important to this architectural endeavour as we transform the Olympic Press and Broadcast Centre on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park into a thriving technology, business and innovation cluster, which serves the unique and dynamic needs of its members."
The centre will run programmes and activities throughout 2016, with a soft launch event planned for October. It will officially open in January 2017.
07.09.2016