Designed by Orms, the Outernet, London is an ambitious mixed-use development 13 years in the making.
At the northern end of the development the new street-facing building features retractable façades that reveal high-resolution wrap-around LED screens, the largest of which greets visitors exiting the Elizabeth Line at Tottenham Court Road.
The building’s foundations straddle the Elizabeth Line tunnel, over which an underground ‘box within a box’ was constructed to contain a 2000-capacity venue recently launched as HERE at Outernet, the largest to open in London since the 1940s. The development also includes offices, a hotel, pro -bono recording studio, restaurants, and apartments.
Orms has also refurbished the historic buildings along the north side of Denmark Street, including No 26 which as The 12 Bar helped spur the early careers of Adele and Jeff Buckley. The Awards will be held in The Lower Third, a new music venue with interiors are by Archer Humphryes.
Denmark Street has been through many changes since it was created as a row of 20 townhouses (of which eight remain) in the 17th Century. By the18th Century the rear of the houses became craft workshops, particularly for metalwork and in the late19th/early 20th Century they were replaced by music publishing earning it the name ‘Tin Pan Alley’.
In the 50s and 60s music publishers began moving out, to be replaced by small recording studios and latterly instrument stores. It gained a reputation as a place to quickly record demo tracks. Among those to have recorded on the street are David Bowie, The Kinks and Elton John. The Lower Third is named after one of David Bowie's former bands.
The development secures Denmark Street’s independent music related shops through the Tin Pan Alley planning use class that was created for the project. This means only music-related tenants can replace a shop.
John McRae, Orms director, said ‘It’s a great honour to have the Archiboo Awards at the recently completed entertainment district and we look forward to sharing our insight and celebrating with the finalists and winners at The Lower Third’.
The Archiboo Awards are always held in a new building of 'architectural interest'. In 2021 the Awards were held at the Design District, Greenwich.
Before the Awards commence, Orms will be giving external tours of Outernet London, Denmark Place and Denmark Street. If you would like to join a tour please pre-register.
Tickets for the Archiboo Awards can be purchased here
Images by Timothy Soar
