alma-nac has repurposed a light industrial warehouse in Bermondsey into a complex of state-of-the-art professional music studios for The Axis, a new enterprise specialising in the provision of writing and production spaces for music professionals. The Axis on Ormside occupies a two-storey brick warehouse on a former industrial estate, which had been vacant for some time. The warehouse has been converted into a complex of ten soundproofed studios, with ten studios arranged along an internal street. The smaller first floor is reserved for a green room, an open-plan communal space for client-facing meetings, networking, socialising and relaxing. Reflecting a craft aesthetic inspired by Enzo Mari’s 'autoprogettazione' (self-design) approach, the studios are formed from utilitarian, low-cost materials simply crafted to create an inspiring and unique environment. The furniture, also inspired by Mari, has been designed by alma-nac as self-build modular components which can easily be assembled on site by The Axis. Charlie Dorman, one of The Axis’s founders and a former stage manager and event producer, led the construction and fabrication. The ‘street’-facing side of the studios is fabricated from CNC-routed plywood cut in such a way that there is zero waste – a strategy that is adopted across the project, where any spare studwork is used to help create the furniture in the green room.