Commonwealth Club Extension
Commonwealth Club, Northumberland Avenue, London WC2
Client: Royal Commonwealth Society
MoreySmith and the Royal Commonwealth Society go back to the 1990s, when we designed the Commonwealth Club's refurbishment after a six-year closure. The brief this time was to extend into 25 Northumberland Avenue next door, giving an extra 1000sq m of auditorium, members' lounge and bar, meeting rooms and exhibition and office space. Members needed their own space, since the success of our original design means the main Club is constantly booked for public events. The aim was also to promote the RCS' values of a modern, dynamic multi-culturalism - all on a tight budget.
This is the oval 'Red Room', with a curved glass wall, on the lower ground floor.
On the left a detail of the bar, a mirrored recess for bottles backed with graphic glass in the myriad colours of the Commonwealth flags. The bar itself (right) is faced with fabric interlayered glass, with the top in red glass. The rear wall is upholstered with bronze leather panels.
The Members' Lounge and bar has an eclectic mix of soft furnishings and textures. Leather, wool and velvets combine with plum, mushroom and purple tones to give a boutique hotel feel. Low lighting and domestic furnishings add warmth; the organic shapes of the acrylic screens on the windows deliver softness and privacy from the street.
The 220-seat auditorium on the lower ground floor, one of the largest facilities of this kind in London's West End. The sculptural floating ceiling is a structural canopy designed to support the roof after columns were removed to increase the useable space. Combined with the rich purple upholstered wall, these elements are as acoustically efficient as they are voluptuous.
The plan shows the lower ground floor with the original club to the right and the new extension and auditorium to the left.