Allies and Morrison saw the London College of Fashion’s designs in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park unveiled to students and the public in east London.
Waterworks Situated on the banks of the River, between the Hadid family’s curvaceous aquatics center and O’Donnell and Tuomey’s sculptural V&A East, this building is the new home of the London College of Fashion (LCF).
The new University of the Arts London building, designed by Allies and Morrison, stands out among its creatively shaped neighbors, with the jagged serrations of the new Sadler’s Wells East (also by O’Donnell and Tuomey) The roof also stands proudly. Scale and orthogonal form.
First, it’s big. And it must also be so. LCF’s new home offers over 40,000 square meters of space for its 5,000 students over 17 floors, with classrooms, workshops, offices, a lecture theater, canteen, archives and digital management facilities above. studio and social space. Once spread out across his six locations in the capital, all of LCF’s faculties are now under his one roof, with students studying journalism and jewellery, fashion illustration and footwear, menswear and marketing. can now share the same space.
It’s probably also a formal antidote to those around you. Its square plan not only facilitates central circulation, but also paves the way for a simple linear column lattice structure, allowing the university’s workshops to be as flexible and adaptable as possible. designed and arranged around it. This means students can work with some of the best views. In London.
Central to this plan throughout the building are fixed elements such as staircases, staircases and stairs. atrium; lift. And the toilet. Even more dramatic, on the lower floors, vertical circulation is celebrated via a dramatic sweeping staircase that flows through the building’s atrium and into the entrance hall of his LCF.
This is an experience that the general public can enjoy. Enter just off the street, walk through the portico and up the spiral staircase to admire student work on display in the Waterfront Gallery or catch a live his workshop in LCF’s “Maker.” You can As well as the Square, you can enjoy expansive views of central London while enjoying something at the cafe.
Upon entering the LCF, that orthogonality disappears not only upon arrival at the staircase, but also as one approaches the building façade, where the corrugated concrete cladding appears.
The core is also concrete, as is the main staircase leading to the entrance. The reason is that this material is durable and can withstand anything that might get caught on (or stick to) anything that someone starting out on a fashion-related course, plus it minimizes the need for internal finishes. This means that it can be suppressed. The project has achieved BREEAM Outstanding and, according to the architects, uses high levels of cement substitutes (up to 50% GGBS) to reduce the building’s operational and tangible carbon footprint. It is said that there is.
Alex Leight, partner at Allies & Morrison, said: “This is a unique project in that it involves three clients and the architecture responds to their priorities. ”.
“The generous covered portico and its transparent and welcoming relationship with the public realm and Queen Elizabeth Park beyond reflect London Legacy Development Corporation’s broader stewardship role. The robust materiality, simple and distinctive form, and flexible and adaptable configuration of the surrounding workshop respond to the University of the Arts London’s desire for a long-term asset as a landlord. The intimate scale of the space, the glimpses of oblique views and the slow pace of circulation it provides were conceived through extensive conversations with its occupants, the university’s own faculty and students, and from personal experience. “Keep that in mind.”
“Our new campus will allow us to teach, create and collaborate in ways we couldn’t before. It will bring together students and staff from across London and open up new opportunities to collaborate with partners and the local community. ,” added Provost and Vice President James Parnell. President of UAL. “Eastbank is a major undertaking and represents our commitment to equipping our students with the skills needed in the rapidly evolving fashion industry. For 120 years, London College of Fashion has been a part of East London. As part of our company, we have nurtured generations of creative talent. With the opening of East Bank, we now have a state-of-the-art facility to cultivate the next wave of industry leaders. .”