The Collectors Lounge (2026) set within the West Wing of Somerset House is imagined as a contemporary take on the Maker’s Library, an inviting, flexible space where craft, materiality and curiosity sit side by side.
We wanted the space to feel like a place people naturally gravitate toward: tactile, storied, and quietly expressive. Sponsored by Trimble SketchUp, the lounge also reflects the tools that shape how many of us work today. We sketched, tested ideas, and modelled the space in SketchUp, using it as a way to play with form and bring the vision into focus, showing how digital tools can support a design process rooted in hand, material, and intuition.
Part working lounge and part experiential installation, the space gently reveals how digital modelling can serve craft-led design. At its heart is a kind of “living lab,” a constellation of artworks, crafted objects, and material samples arranged like moments in an unfolding story. It is contained but open, curated yet fluid, ready to shift with use.
The lounge is shaped around a sense of togetherness and centredness. We wanted visitors to feel free to sit, talk, read, or simply wander. Three overlapping zones continue the Maker Library narrative:
Read + Stay, a quiet place to sink into books, archives, and AV pieces; Make + Learn, a makers’ lab for experimentation, co-working, and live craft moments; and Pause + Play, a soft, café-like corner for conversation, rest, and encounters with local artisans.
- Materiality is the thread running through all. A calm palette of natural felt, wood wool, sheer voiles, and grounded, pigmented tones brings a simple, contemporary clarity while softening the historic architecture around it. Every component, from the central banquette to the movable pouffes and communal tables, was designed with flexibility in mind, echoing the iterative way SketchUp allowed the concept to evolve. Artworks, including 8 to 10 Director’s Choice selections, are placed with intention, and SketchUp branding is woven in with quiet restraint.
