If there was a project that demonstrates the best way to pay tribute to a legacy constructing’s previous whereas hammering it to the present day, then the London office of Squire and Partners is a robust competitors. The architecture agency repurposed a derelict annex of an 1870’s former Bon Marché division store and an adjoining Victorian Gothic former firehouse–to a mixed-use entity at the moment collectively and aptly known as the Division Retailer. It includes Squire’s model new office, which was discovered in a overly -small modernist development with skyrocketing rents, along with public retail and dining distances and a pole office. The technique has been respectful, specializing in craftsmanship, but additionally daring. Squire built an enchancment to the roofing, hit partitions and floors, deserted brickwork spherical doorways raw and twisted, and uncovered beautiful tile- and metalwork on the first stairs in addition to the layers of paint, historical past, and graffiti that had gathered over the many years in the city’s quickly gentrifying Brixton space.