Unite Hayloft Point
Hayloft Point is Unite Students’ flagship in Aldgate, a 24-storey, 920-bed tower on the site of the Boar’s Head, a Tudor playhouse. We developed and delivered the interior design, from student amenities to commercial workspace and performance, exhibition and community spaces.
Our interior design and curatorial approach references the theatrical history of the site, once home to the Boar’s Head Tudor-era theatre, and celebrates the new concrete structure that bridges the ruins. Artefacts uncovered during the archaeological dig drove the design; drawing from artefacts as varied as Tudor moneybox tops used at the Boar’s Head to a 20th-century Incredible Hulk figurine, the exhibition traces the history of the site as a place of theatre, making and changing beliefs from ancient Roman times to the present day.
Based on this narrative, we oversaw the development of graphic interpretation and exhibition material within the social spaces we designed for student and public use, working in close collaboration with the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), and commissioned original artwork for public and student areas which referenced the site’s rich history.
We curated and commissioned artwork for the public and student areas, working in close collaboration with the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) and curator Jackie Keily. The Women of the Playhouse window panels are by our Lauren Li Porter: four-metre drawings of the playhouse’s patron Queen Anne, its owner Jane Poley and employee Mary Phillips.
