Delfina Foundation | Westminster, London 2012

The Delfina Foundation are London's largest provider of international artist residencies. This scheme consolidated two georgian buildings on Catherine Street into one facility with reconfigurations to the lower floors of the combined buildings in order to create a flexible lateral space. The two buildings were also proposed to be vertically linked through triple height open stairwells and floor voids.

The public staircase to the rear of the building is configured as a distinct element fabricated from plate steel. From the public entrance the form of the stair describes the Arabic Dal figure (for Delfina), which is also etched onto the surface of the steel as a subtle motif. This approach has antecedents in Arab design where typography commonly provides the formal basis for three dimensional artefacts and where in the absence of figurative decoration lettering is often used as a surface pattern.