Manalo & White – TACO!, London

Text provided by Manalo & White

This new home for Thamesmead Arts and Culture Office comprises a gallery and event space, a café bar with outdoor seating, and a bookshop which supports creatives and independent publishing, providing opportunities for artists, musicians and local community groups. The venue also incorporates a new broadcast studio for RTM.FM, supporting the growth of the community radio station and expanding TACO!’s offer to include a night-time programme of live performance and music events.

Architects Manalo & White aimed to provide a robust, dynamic, flexible and contemporary space which would be visible, approachable and require very little maintenance. The design makes specific reference to some of the architectural interventions made by residents in Thamesmead’s brutalist and modernist vernacular, embedding the project in the community using Ketley brown brindle bricks and pavers as the principal material. The project was also delivered on a very tight budget, driving an emphasis on resourcefulness, materiality and sustainability. Manalo & White therefore worked sensitively and imaginatively with the existing space to deliver the creative retrofit to make the most out of the space.