’70s Brutalist office building now home of the Standard hotel in London

Not every Brutalist gem gets a happy ending, but the Camden Town Hall Annexe in Kings Cross London is a pleasant exception. The concrete clad building, originally built in the 1970s, is now the newest member of the Standard Hotel tribe, the impossibly trendy hotel chain.

Instead of tearing down the building, the architects at Orms decided to keep its distinctly Brutalist facade, with a few key updates.

The least intrusive among them was replacing the tinted windows with clear glass. The most intrusive includes a steel and glass extension that perches atop the building like a funny, modern hat. A bright red pill of an external elevator will shuttle visitors from the ground floor to the rooftop hangout spot, which the Standard is famous for.

The Standard Hotel

Inside, the former office building is refurbished with rich colors and mod furniture. Even still, the coolest thing about the hotel is the rounded rectilinear curves that imbue the corner suites with a reminder of the building’s original DNA.

Take a closer look below.

The Standard Hotel

The Standard Hotel

The Standard Hotel

The Standard Hotel