When the architecture firm Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) was looking for a second studio near its London base, it found an irresistible opportunity at White Collar Factory, a 16-story office tower designed by the practice. Its cavernous basement, which extends under an adjacent courtyard, was never intended as a workspace but had a powerful, robust character, room for a staff of 110, and lots of potential. There was only one catch: “It had everything we like in a building,” says practice partner Simon All­ford, “except windows.”

The lack of daylight and views has been addressed by a sophisticated lighting scheme that also supports AHMM’s vision of the studio as its “skunkworks”—a flexible setting for creative experiment—and chimes with the building’s industrial aesthetic.