The Economist/Smithson Plaza

Docomomo UK’s September talk took place at the Alan Baxter Gallery in London. With an introduction from John Forest, DSDHA’s co-founding Director Deborah Saunt delivers a presentation on the methodologies employed during the refurbishment of Smithson Plaza, formerly the Economist Plaza, and the resulting research that emerged from it.

With The Economist newspaper moving to a new location, the plaza was in urgent need of revitalised relevance to the city. Over 25 years had passed since its last fit-out at the time of DSDHA’s appointment in 2016 and despite receiving Grade II* listing in 1988, the site had become disconnected from its setting.

As well as a sensitive restoration of the iconic London landmark, DSDHA’s work at the plaza sought also to elevate the space and reintroduce it to its immediate surroundings. Deborah’s talk explains how DSDHA engaged the Smithson’s research from the time of construction, to create a constructive dialogue that merges a celebration of modernism with a discursive analysis of evolution and change within architecture.