An unassuming white building behind King’s Cross conceals a wonderful interior and rooftop garden. This is the Aga Khan Centre, opened in 2018 to house several divisions of the Shi‘a Ismaili charity, and its design incorporates a collection of gardens, courtyards and terraces all based on Islamic principles.

It’s also open for tours.

While it looks like a conventional office block from the outside, it’s inside that the real action takes place. A central floor-to-ceiling courtyard space dominates, but what really marks the building out at the many gardens dotted around the outside and on the roof.

What’s also delightful about the building is the attention to detail, from the careful use of patterns in the decoration to both shade rooms while reminding people of the building’s origins to the furniture dotted around the library spaces, and even the signs for the toilets seem to have been custom-designed when an off-the-shelf sign would have been adequate.

Tours of the Aga Khan Centre are available most Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

The tours are free, and you can book one here.

The Aga Khan Centre is on the junction of Stable Street and Handyside Street, just north of Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross.