Kintsugi, The Japanese Art Of Mending, Comes To Manchester Refurb
Kintsugi — a philosophy which treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise — will guide refurbishment of the 35K SF Manchester Northern Quarter office block at Tariff Street and Hilton Street.
Atul Bansal, co-founder of the Sheila Bird Group, has been working with owner and developer CERT Property and Buttress Architects to create plans for the project, which will revive a block designed by acclaimed mid-century architect (and designer of London’s Centrepoint) Richard Seifert.
With huge windows, interesting features and parquet flooring throughout, Bansal said they will apply Kintsugi principles to respect Hilton House’s originality.
“I’ve always wanted to work on this beauty," Bansal said. "I want to strip it back and let it be authentic. Location wise, it doesn’t get much better and it’s time to make it work for the businesses that work in it and a place that encourages them to love what they do. So how do we stitch that with the rest of the building? Japanese love that, and that's what it’s going to be about. It’s going to be ace, ace, ace and we can’t wait to start working on it.”
Hilton House is six floors of office space. When it opens in early 2019, it will be targeted at flexible and co-working space for SME’s.
“I don’t think it’s well known enough as a building. When it’s finished I want people to know what it is and where it is and what it’s for, and I think we can do that,” Buttress Architects Director Gavin Sorby said.
