People · Podcast guest
Mark Sciberras
From Blueprints to Lattes: Serving the Community ft. Common Ground Workshop
Mark Sciberras is the founder of Common Ground Workshop, an architecture practice and community cafe in Bethnal Green, East London.
- Current role
- Founder
- Practice
- Common Ground Workshop
- Location
- Bethnal Green, London
Conversation
The thinking behind the work.
Episode 0179 · Architecture Social
From Blueprints to Lattes: Serving the Community ft. Common Ground Workshop
Today we speak with the trailblazing team at Common Ground Workshop who isn’t your typical architecture practice – they’re a band of socially conscious mavericks with a hybrid business model that’s shaking up the game!
Explore episode moments
Use the timestamps below to find each moment in the full episode.
- 05:00 · Starting the practice and how the cafe came about · Audio only
- 10:00 · Projects, community work and Common Ground Workshop's approach · Audio only
- 15:00 · Running a cafe alongside an architecture practice · Audio only
- 20:00 · Acting as developer, client and architect · Audio only
- 25:00 · Solving practical building problems and making spaces work · Audio only
- 30:00 · Studio life, project types and daily practice pressures · Audio only
Selected work
Selected work.
Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom
The Common E2
A completed hybrid cafe, retail, gallery and workspace hub in Bethnal Green that is also home to Common Ground Workshop.
Explore the project ↗London City Island, London, United Kingdom
Nebula, London City Island
A former restaurant and grocery store reworked as a flexible cafe, bar, restaurant, workspace and community lounge by the River Lea.
Explore the project ↗Camberwell, London, United Kingdom
Lloyd Eist House
A mid-century storage warehouse in Camberwell refurbished and extended into an adaptable three-storey family home.
Explore the project ↗About
The story so far.
The person behind the work.
Mark Sciberras is the founder of Common Ground Workshop, an architecture practice in Bethnal Green, East London, which he established in 2014. Originally from Melbourne and trained in architecture in Brisbane, Mark set out to run a commercial business alongside a design studio, and built the practice around a hybrid model that sits within a community café, The Common E2, on Old Bethnal Green Road.
Alongside the studio, Mark has developed a portfolio that spans residential, commercial and hospitality work, and a development arm, Common Ground Developments, through which he has acted as both architect and developer. Projects include a warehouse-to-house conversion in South East London and a series of café, bar and fit-out schemes in East London. His approach puts community, collaboration and entrepreneurial thinking at the centre of how the practice operates.
Watch or listen to the full conversation in the Architecture Social CPD: From Blueprints to Lattes: Serving the Community ft. Common Ground Workshop.
The practice
Common Ground Workshop
Common Ground Workshop is an architecture studio (established in 2014) with a unique vision for professional practice that puts collaborations between clients, end users, communities and industry professionals at the heart of everything we do. Situated within a hybrid workspace, café and art’s space called ‘The…
Architecture practice · Greater London
Expertise
What I bring.
- Current role
- Founder
- Practice
- Common Ground Workshop
- Location
- Bethnal Green, London
- On the podcast
- 1 episode · 2023
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