Spaces The Mailbox
Spaces The Mailbox is the ambitious reconfiguration of a former retail space into a new co-working destination within the Mailbox; an iconic mixed-use building in the centre of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Studio Sutton has converted the 40-metre-long retail arcade into a communal business club and the former shop openings into meeting rooms, demonstrating the potential re-use of unwanted shopping areas in city centres. This unique, flexible workplace destination supports a diverse community of workers, businesses, and students in the centre the city.
Following a decline in retail activity, the landlord M7 Real Estate, chose to repurpose the entrance level retail space to suit the growing market for flexible office and co-working centres which facilitate new ways of working. They partnered with global co-working brand Spaces, part of the IWG network, to introduce flexible offices, meeting rooms and a communal business club.
The key design strategy was to convert the 40-metre-long retail arcade into the communal business club, carefully dividing it into three distinct zones using free-standing joinery pieces.
The first zone becomes the publicly accessible entrance café and reception
The middle zone, a quieter co-working and events space
The third zone is a winter garden with visual connections to the retained retail level above
The former shop openings have been carefully converted into meeting rooms accessed from the business club, with glass partitions providing views through to the new office realm beyond.
The office realm features IWG’s super-flexible 'Open Desk' concept. This is combined with smaller break out zones and shared amenities, aligned with windows to bring daylight deep into the floorplate.
The retained finishes are combined with a simple and warm palette of new materials for the joinery and furniture pieces to provide a homely and familiar atmosphere. The meeting rooms are characterised by coloured accent walls and curtains to provide a gentle playfulness, privacy, and a softness to contrast the retained stone surrounds of former shop fronts.
With the former retail arcade, the project aimed to retain as much as possible from a recent refurbishment in 2015, including finishes and technical services to limit the environmental impact. Furthermore, this approach enabled the design to capitalise on the existing spatial layout to provide a unique character to the new co-working space.
