Magazine London

A powder magazine turned into a black monolith

The name evokes the powder magazine that once occupied this bank of the Thames: Magazine London stands opposite Canary Wharf, a stone's throw from the O2, on an industrial site on the Greenwich Peninsula. In September 2019, Nissen Richards Studio delivered an L-shaped building eight meters high, with a sawtooth roof and a palette of weathered steel, black-stained OSB, and polished concrete. It was the first Venue Lab venue built from scratch—not converted—and was conceived as a temporary piece while the peninsula was being transformed.

Space 2, the floor-to-ceiling window, and the Showground

The heart of the dance floor is Space 2, a 1,741 m² black box with a standing capacity of 3,000, featuring a modular stage, LED rig, and an L-Acoustics Kara and A Series system designed for riders. You enter through Space 1, the full-height glass lobby that frames the skyline and pours the night out toward the terrace and the riverside Showground: 9,700 m² and up to 7,000 people outdoors. In total, there are four indoor spaces, cantilevered steel mezzanines, and a black canvas that each event covers in its own way. Carter Studio designed a graphic strikethrough identity: the sign leaves a gap for whoever rents the building to sign it.

The electronic dance floor next to the O2

It does not operate as a nightclub with a fixed calendar. It belongs to the Broadwick Live ecosystem—the same as Printworks and The Drumsheds—and lights up when there is a lineup. It opened to the public on September 7, 2019, with the Epic House Party by elrow, Desperados, and a five-hour set by Skream. In October, Michael Bibi debuted Isolate there. Broadwick estimates over 200,000 tickets sold for live music. The Hydra has brought events to Magazine such as Autechre in the dark and Honey Dijon, and in 2026 Broadwick Live opened Magazine Open-Air on an adjacent plot: an open-air dance floor from afternoon to dusk, distinct from the building.

A hybrid venue that lights up with the lineup

Magazine London shares the week with conferences, film shoots, and brand activations, and reserves long nights for electronic music when a promoter occupies Space 2. It remains active as a club venue and as a canvas for Broadwick Live, a five-minute walk from North Greenwich, with no on-site parking and lockers in the club. The dance floor is rewritten every time a new lineup comes in.