Drawing and storytelling are integral to architectural practice, fundamental tools for communicating design intent and engaging clients in the creative process. It is fitting, then, that a new cultural institution dedicated to illustration, named after arguably the UK’s foremost illustrator, should emerge from a site already rich in narrative and be shaped by a practice so attuned to questions of heritage and place.

The Quentin Blake Centre, now reimagined by Tim Ronalds Architects, occupies part of the former New River Head waterworks, a backland enclave in Clerkenwell with a richly layered history. For a short time, I lived nearby, overlooking the site. Its boarded-up buildings and forlorn-looking yard were clearly crying out for a use worthy of their eccentric character but it was difficult to imagine quite what that might be.

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