Reorganising a Modernist icon
In a comprehensive refurbishment, the principal challenge was to fundamentally recompose the building’s constrained and compartmentalised interior – marked by low ceilings, awkward level changes and poor daylight – while preserving its appearance. Phased construction was needed to allow trading to continue throughout the process.

Infills behind retained Victorian facades on the north side of the block took the whole building to seven storeys, increasing retail space by a fifth. Internally, the store was reorganised into three large, flexible retail “rooms”, each centred on reinstated lightwells and surrounded by support spaces.

Light, air and circulation
The most dramatic intervention is a new 28-metre-high central atrium, created by expanding an original lightwell. Ringed by open shop floors with curving balcony fronts in white plaster, glass and chrome, the space echoes Crabtree’s Modernist language while providing new ease of movement of circulation and a memorable spatial identity. Escalators crisscross the void, drawing visitors upwards to a new rooftop café overlooking the rooftops of Chelsea.

The atrium is also integral to an innovative low-energy building services strategy that avoided visually intrusive rooftop equipment. Ventilation intakes are integrated into the facades, and foul air is extracted through the atrium roof. Chilled ceiling beams - used for the first time in a British retail environment - were integrated into the concrete frame and provide efficient cooling.

Interior alterations address problems so great that the John Lewis Partnership had considered closing its flagship store. Instead, the retail institution had been given a new lease of life, and the building’s future secured.