World’s Smallest Charity Shop in Norwich

Located in the heart of Tombland, Norwich, sits a telephone box which has sat empty and neglected for many years…. The charity Sibling Support noticed it then came to Redhead Architects with a fantastic idea to create ‘The World’s smallest charity shop!’  

The ‘K2’ Telephone box, designed by by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, is a design icon, so we were delighted to be given the opportunity to reimagine how this tiny building could be used in a creative way, with the hope that we could breathe new life in to hundreds of other telephone boxes throughput the UK.  For us, the challenge had to be how to add space without losing the identity of the original design?

We combined the efficiency of a newspaper-stand, with the elegance of the Swiss-Army knife, combined with the simplicity of a box of matches to create a box which can transform and expand to inhabit the surrounding streetscape.  Once transformed, the box provides space for display and hanging of vintage clothes.  Then at the end of the day, the box can perform a small piece of theatre for passers- by as it transforms back to its original form.  

 Through this work, Redhead Architects can contribute to ongoing conversations around temporality, accessibility, and the social potential of design in constrained urban contexts.