Lucky Club

Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald

LUCKY CLUB

Vppr

ARCHITECTS
Vppr

APPROVED INSPECTOR   
Socotec

PRINCIPAL DESIGNER     
Cameron & Payne

MANUFACTURERS
Bespoke, Bradleys Metal Finishers, Cadisch Mda, Q-railing, Saige, Schüco

MEP ENGINEER
Mj Associates

LIGHTING DESIGN 
Light Bureau

ACOUSTIC CONSULTANT
Big Sky Acoustics

MAIN CONTRACTOR
Dfl

LEAD ARCHITECT AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Jessica Reynolds

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR      
Anthony Charnley

PROJECT ARCHITECT
Teresa Erskine

PLANNING CONSULTANTS   
Gerald Eve

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS   
Meinhardt

STEELWORK CONTRACTOR 
Helm X

PHOTOGRAPHS
Lewis Ronald

YEAR
2023

LOCATION
Camden Town, United Kingdom

CATEGORY
Hospitality Architecture, Bar

Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald

The Lucky Club is a new bar in Camden that is perched alongside the Grade II* Listed Horse Hospital, designed by vPPR Architects for LabTech Ltd. 

The lightweight structure has been delicately positioned above the historic built fabric of the Stables Market, wrapping around the corner facing onto Chalk Farm Road. 

Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald
Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald

The design draws on the heritage of its location, with an undulating steel pattern that acts as a crown, signaling North London’s newest hotspot.

The existing enclave of brick buildings was created to service the Victorian railway that sprang up in Camden as it became a mecca for the transportation of goods.

Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald
Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald

This also meant that hundreds of horses were needed to help with the hustle and bustle of nineteenth-century life, and therefore the stables and Horse Hospital became their home. The area has since radically changed but this history has supplied inspiration for the new bar.

The V-shaped metalwork that supports the roof structure acts as a playful reference to the triangular openings in stables that are used to allow horses to poke their heads out for feeding.

Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald
Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald

These gaps now supply views of the busy nightlife that takes place in the streets below. Between the openings, a series of vertical grills take their cues from the historic Horse Hospital, which uses the device to subdivide spaces while still maintaining openness and transparency.

Sculptural semicircular peaks on top of the roof are formed from the shape of the single porthole in the gable end of the Horse Hospital also.

Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald

As the bar follows the curve of the building, it creates a variety of spaces – thin and wide, covered and open, planted or not planted, metal roof or clear roof – leading people across to the open terrace beside the railway. The venue is accessed via the Horse Ramp, with the bar immediately in view upon arrival.


Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald
Lucky Club
© Lewis Ronald


Lucky Club
Floor Plan
Lucky Club
Roof Plan


Lucky Club
Section 1
Lucky Club
Section 2


Lucky Club
Elevation 1
Lucky Club
Elevation 2


Lucky Club
Detail