Idea Store Whitechapel
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The Idea Store was Adjaye Associates' first public building
Tim Soar (website) Download Original
Community centre that houses library and continuing education services plus dance and health facilities
The building is a sleek, highly glazed box; while the front is of two storeys facing south to the street, most of the building behind is on the first floor, sitting on an existing podium above small single-storey shops, reading as an upper storey to them along the narrow unroofed shopping mall to the east.
To the north the store disappears among existing buildings as it meets Chrisp Street open-air market. To the west it sits on the podium in retail backlands, a black opaque face that is largely unseen. Its four entrances emphasise accessibility.
Organisationally, the Idea Store involves the bringing together and rethinking of library and continuing education services. Small exhibitions run in foyers while stores house libraries of books, as well as a wide variety of audiovisuals. Other rooms provide locations for courses, run by the borough and with partner organizations. Dance and health facilities are also located in the building.
Data
- Begun: Apr 2003
- Completed: 2004
- Floor area: 5,000m2
- Sector: Arts and culture
- Total cost: £2.1M
- Tender date: Feb 2003
- Procurement: Traditional
- Address: Idea Store Whitechapel, 321 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1BU, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Adjaye Associates
- Project architect: David Adjaye
- Client: London Borough of Tower Hamlets
- Clerk of Works: Peter Green
- Project manager: Miller Mitchell Burley Lane
- Quantity surveyor: Miller Mitchell Burley Lane
- Planning supervisor: Miller Mitchell Burley Lane
- Structural engineer: Arup
- Services engineer: Arup
- Main contractor: William Verry
Suppliers
- Facade: Konhaeusner
- Services contractor: ECG
- Structural steelwork: Gorge Fabrication
- Bespoke furniture: Valley Joinery
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