dMFK Architects renovation of the fin de sicle offices of a wallpaper manufacturer strikes a delicate balance between restoration and upgradingMathilda Lewis of dMFK Architects is shortlisted for the MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice 2024. Find out more about the W Awards hereDoes a landmark have to mark the landscape? Voysey House is nestled in a network of alleys off Chiswick High Road in west London. Anattentive stroller might easily miss it. Yetfor admirers of the fin de sicle architect and designer CFA Voysey, it is a landmark indeed, even if you have to peep down one of the slender passages that surround it to see its gleaming white brick walls and Portland stone peaks. I think the photographers feltduped, says Mathilda Lewis of Londonbased firm dMFK Architects, whenthey came and realised that they couldnt get the perspective for a great photo.Voysey specialised in a distinctively streamlined Arts and Crafts style. His country houses reconcile vernacular forms such as pitched roofs with clean, modernising features like white rendered walls. Completed at the height of his practice, Voysey House transferred his ethos to a structure of a verydifferent stripe. Previously known as the White Building, it was erected for the wallpaper manufacturer Arthur Sanderson & Sons in 1902 to complement a redbrick Victorian factory across the passage.After a fire gutted the Victorian factory in 1928, Sanderson moved out to Perivale. Now its successor company, Sanderson Design Group, has moved back in, thanks to property developer and investor Dorrington. After buying the building in 2020, Dorrington invited Sanderson back and began a competition for its restoration. This waswon by dMFK, with Lewis as project architect. Work started on the site in January 2021 and construction took three years.Its architect aside, the building has a significant place in design history. Sanderson was established in 1860, a year before William Morris started his own company. At one point its Chiswick factory accounted for 98 per centof all British wallpaper manufacture. Sanderson hired many of the leading designers of the day, including Voysey. In1940, it bought the wallpaper business, blocks, logbooks, stock and name of Morris & Co, absorbing its most famous rival. The present incarnation encompasses six British luxury interior brands. The companys 75,000item archive, now housed within thebuilding, is a remarkable repository ofwallpaper design.Voysey approached his sole industrial commission with a typical combination offunctionalism and flourish. The buildings hulking dimensions allowed rolls of wallpaper the length of tube carriages to be unfurled atonce. The walls are built of white glazed bricks, with plinths and window frames in a Staffordshire blue variety. Voysey installed huge windows with curved frames toallow in light for work, but also punched whimsical portholelike round windows onthe top floor. The buildings buttresses resemble those of a parish church. Seen from the south, the roof alternates the crowns ofthese structures with parapets topped with cambered Portland stone coping. But any lofty ornamental flourishes are balanced with concessions to the reality of a working building in a 20thcentury city: the buttresses are fitted with urine deflectors to protect them from drinkers from the adjacent pub.Originally known as the White Building, wallpaper-maker Sandersons office used to be connected to its factory across the passage. Its architect wasthe arts and crafts designer CFA VoyseyCredit:RIBA CollectionsAfter Sanderson left, the White Building became a printing works. In 1968, it was purchased by the National Transit Insurance Company. During this period two shuttered garage doors were sawed into the west end of Voyseys structure. They made partitions, added an internal glass lobby and raised deck and removed the original roof. When it was Grade II* listed in 1973 the transformations had already been done. In the 1980s, architect Charles Lawrence bought the building. Lawrence was a member of the Voysey Society and engaged in piecemeal restoration. He rented out the lower three storeys as anoffice while converting the uppermost into a family home, adding another floor, alightwell and a roof terrace while doing so.Over the years, Voyseys bricks had deteriorated. dMFK collaborated with stonework and restoration contractor Paye to repair them, brick by brick. Lewis worked with the client to mark up every damaged brick. It was almost like a game of Jenga, she smiles. How many bricks could we remove without the building falling down? This was possibly the most painful bit of thejob, and in the end you almost dont notice itbecause its so seamlessly repaired.The practices plan sought to bring the building closer to Voysey without turning back time.dMFK director Joshua Scott says: Refurbished glazed brick buildings canlooklike theyve just come outof the factory.They look almost like afacsimile ofthemselves rather than an authentic restoration. dMFK and their partners aimed to instead embrace the buildings wear and age. The exterior isconsequently clean but not glossy.By renewing Voysey House, the architects have made its layers of history all the more conspicuousThe approach continues inside the building. The steel structure is visible, painted in an intumescent paint to protect it from fire. Voyseys original ceiling of white corrugated metal has been cleaned, but dMFK has kept its joins and irregularities. The first and second floors, home to Sandersons offices and design studios, retain Voyseys original wooden flooring, with visible ink stains andmarks from the presses.dMFK also retained Voyseys service coreat the eastern end of the building, adding modern amenities such as showers and bicycle storage, extending the lift to the upper storey and redesigning the staircase with a bespoke nosing of brass inlay and Staffordshire blue brick. These are all hidden from the main space. Network and power sockets are also concealed behind skirting and in the ceiling. The partitions, lobby and raised deck were removed to create freeflowing, open spaces, as Voysey would have recognised. The ground floor is fitted with movable wall panels, allowing separate areas to be created while retaining sight of the entire space.For the windows, dMFK restored the aesthetics of Voyseys original while doing something new. dMFK reimplememted hissmall panes and thick metal frames, replacing his castiron with heatretaining steel. This has both a heritage and security function, with the portcullislike lattice making it difficult for breakins and dispensing with the need for shutters. Through material investigation the architects also discovered and reapplied the frames original bottle green colour.These windows use double glazing, which enhances the buildings heat retention. Thiswas something weve had to fight for in planning, recalls Lewis, because Hounslow Council has a blanket no double glazing policy to avoid double reflectivity. The solution was to place ultrathin panels of Fineo glazing close together. This decreased the buildings Uvalue by over 50 per cent. Itunlocked us getting an EPC A rating, which is quite an achievement for a building of this age, adds Scott.dMFK did not reverse all the interventions of the previous century. The garage doors wereturned into large windows, allowing thebuildings ground floor to serve as a showroom. Lawrences upper floors and lightwell were kept, but heavily adapted. The third floor, with abundant natural light on one side but none on the other, was perfect for Sandersons climatecontrolled archive, while the floor above has been converted into an office space, retaining Lawrences undulating steel ceiling. Weinitially wondered whether this was a good addition, says Lewis. Do we want to embrace it? But taking all that steel away didnt seem like the right thing to do in thecurrent climate. Other features were removed. There were some very strange drainage strategies when we got in, explains Scott. There used to be an internal gulley where rainwater would just run down. Youdpull a bit of wood off the top and thered be water flowing through it. The lightwell was turned into a terrace, with architectural metalwork and vaulted transoms that resemble the outer windows. dMFK clad the walls of the lightwell with TECU oxidised brass panelling. It already demonstrates a vivid patina. In this it represents the project as a whole. By renewing Voysey House, dMFK has madeits layers of history all the more conspicuous. Returning to the building over the past year has been a reminder that its not the glossy photographs that bring the most joy at the end of a job, says Lewis, but seeing how the spaces work for the people who usethem.