A place for change – Vauxhall, London
Created through a collaboration of leading trusts and foundations with the Ethical Property Company, The Foundry provides an affordable, ethically managed home for organisations working in social justice and human rights, alongside conference, exhibition and community spaces.
Designed by Architecture 00, the RIBA National Award-winning building combines a retained Victorian factory with a contemporary structure of concrete, glass, timber and steel.
Richard Wolfströme developed an integrated place identity, wayfinding system, environmental graphics and public art programme for the building. The identity takes its form from the three distinctive gables of the architecture and extends across signage, printed communications and other applications.
The wayfinding was designed to feel intrinsic to the building rather than applied to it. Directional information is laser-etched into plywood panels, while external lettering, door graphics, manifestations and identification elements respond directly to the architectural palette and detailing. At the rear of the original building, The Foundry name is painted directly onto the brickwork, giving it the character of a long-established feature.
Public art continues this integrated approach. Statements by influential thinkers and human rights leaders were researched and then selected with the local community, creating a narrative that runs throughout the building. The most popular quotation – Anne Frank’s “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world” – appears above the main entrance.
Large-scale typographic portraits of figures including Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincolnanimate the conference hall glazing, each portrait constructed from the individual’s own words. Together, the artworks, graphics and wayfinding give physical expression to The Foundry’s purpose: a place dedicated to ideas, action and positive social change.
Architecture: Architecture 00
Identity, wayfinding, environmental graphics & public art: Richard Wolfströme
Fabrication & installation: Standard 8
Photography: Jim Stephenson
Identity, wayfinding, environmental graphics & public art: Richard Wolfströme
Fabrication & installation: Standard 8
Photography: Jim Stephenson
