The people and skills change and there are changes in social and environmental demands.

That people like these are drawn to the building is affirmation of everything the design set out to achieve.We caught up with the team who run the space as well as some of the residents to see why the space works so well for them.... KRISTI MINCHIN, GREAT WESTERN STUDIOS.

With only two metres separating the roof of the building from the A40 Westway and The Grand Union Canal only five meters from the walls of the building, the triangular structure of Great Western Studios is in a unique urban position.Partway between Notting Hill and Paddington in West London, the space was originally an old paint factory, which the owners enlisted award-winning architect, Bryden Wood, to turn into studio space for the artistic community back in 2009.After the successful completion of the first project, Bryden Wood was commissioned a second time in 2017 to add a further two storeys to the building to create a total of 104 studio spaces.. GWS’ Marketing Executive, Kristi Minchin, says she was initially attracted to the building by the talent and creative energy of its occupants who include artists, architects, fashion brands, and creative tech companies.

‘You could talk to forty people in one day and they are all working on completely different projects and it’s all happening under this one roof.I love that so much.’ GWS offers a range of different studios from 150 square foot units for 1 to 2 people and runs all the way to 10,000 square foot units for 100+ employees.

Minchin says, ‘Businesses can grow in the space.

Lots of people do upsize - that’s what the building is designed for,’ she adds, ’there’s also quite a lot of demand for the smaller atrium-facing spaces too as they are good shop fronts.Once the optimal design for a site is decided upon, the digital model, already aware of the required mechanical electrical components, wall types, doors, structural components and so on, is able to generate a LOD 400 bill of materials quality BIM model very quickly.. It’s worth stressing that using modern methods of construction in this way doesn’t mean taking jobs away from people.

There’s so much to be designed!MMC will simply enable us to keep up with the needs of society.

The more buildings that can be described by technical standards, state-based standards and rule sets ripe for some form of algorithmic design, the more we will be able to design more efficiently, more quickly and to a higher quality.This digital process will then feed all the way down through manufacturing, assembly automation and construction, with the ultimate benefits finding their way onto site..