RIBA London Winner

We are delighted to announce that MOST’s design of  Charge Cars R&D facility has won an RIBA London Award. This is the first of our projects to win an RIBA Award, so you can imagine, it was a fantastically exciting moment to receive it at a ceremony at Portland Place on Friday 12 May.

We believe that our project for Charge Cars may be the first factory fit-out to win an RIBA London Award. It is certainly a factory with a difference. The fit-out of Charge’s R&D facility in West London creates a production plant, research centre, sales, and administrative suite. The design approach has required a deep integration with the working practices and marketing strategies of the organisation. From bespoke entrance lighting to an efficient factory floor, every area has been considered in relation to production ergonomics, branding, worker, and customer experience.⁠

For this project, the client has been the co-designer. Every aspect of the design has been honed with great thought being put into the functionality of the space. As there are not too many precedents for bespoke electric car production facilities of this size, this has required investigative experimentation, review, and modelling to get right. And so the brief emerged through the design process.⁠

The Award Jurors have been generous in their praise of the project:

“The experience of visiting Charge Cars is immediately immersive, with the reception doubling as a gallery and photography studio. The client wanted the ‘customer journey’ to begin at the front door and be centred around its design and manufacture process, resulting in a rigorously conceived and deftly detailed fit-out that is in equal parts a showroom and a factory.”

“The project also provides Charge employees with an inspiring workplace that provides an abundance of amenities and welfare facilities. Harnessing utility and mastering the detail, this project demonstrates the value that architects can bring to industrial settings.”

RIBA London Award – Winner 2023