St Pauls Way Community Centre

Location:	Tower Hamlets, London
Type:	Community & Office Space
Client:	Poplar HARCA
Duration:	2018-2019
Status:	Completed

Okra worked with Poplar Harca to creating a phased, multi-faceted, strategic vision for an existing mixed-use community centre building in Poplar. This included a detailed existing building study with spatial, wayfinding and programmatic analysis and a study looking at how the building could be adapted to accommodate community sector organisations within a co-working office. We also proposed a series of design interventions for various parts of the centre, to be completed in phases.

We embedded ourselves in the community centre to fully understand how the building worked and how each space was utilised. We spent extended periods of time with the various stakeholders, identifying the needs of the existing users and the various organisations who would be occupying the centre in the future.

Alongside our longer-term strategic studies, Okra produced a detailed design and tender package for the first phase of works. This involved a technical refresh of the centre including general refurbishments, new services and lighting. We also delivered the first phase of the wayfinding and signage strategy, developed in collaboration with Studio Lorenz Klingebiel.