Brunswick Centre
Subscribe now to instantly view this image
Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Looking east along Bernard Street
Richard Einzig Download Original
The Brunswick Centre is a grade II listed residential and shopping centre in Bloomsbury, London
Patrick Hodgkinson's brief was to create an ideograph of city-centreness. He formed this design to make housing a central component of the city.
The project is designed to house 1286 people, with a ratio of 2:1 for the commercial sections of shops, offices, cinema, pubs, restaurants and garages.
The basement comprises garages and shops with the upper basement used as a mezzanine level for these stores. The ground level contains a pedestrian shopping street joining Bernard Street to Tavistock Place, as well as 80 shopping units. Another mezzanine level sits above this, with housing along flanks and more shops.
On this level there is a terrace with a landscaped public realm; trees have been planted, and play and sheltered sitting areas created. This level is where the main housing entrance is situated along with professional chambers and welfare rooms.
The ground level is defined is also characterised by concrete grills, which operate to provide the facilities with natural ventilation.
Data
- Begun: 1967
- Completed: 1972
- Sectors: Residential, Public realm, Office, Retail
- Total cost: £7.5M
- Address: Brunswick Centre, Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury , London, WC1N 1AF, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Patrick Hodgkinson
- Client: Marchmont Properties Ltd
- Quantity surveyor: AELTC
- Valuation surveyors: C. Harman Hunt
- Valuation surveyors: Strutt & Partners
- Structural engineer: McAlpine Design Group
- Services engineer: McAlpine Design Group
