University of the Arts, London

University of the Arts in London’s campus for Central Saint Martins at King’s Cross is a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ building and a feat of fair-faced concrete.

The project brief was to provide an environmentally sensitive building and the result is a three-storey building based around an internal street, with a translucent roof that maximises the use of natural sunlight. As part of the university’s sustainable energy strategy, concrete’s high thermal mass is used to cool the building and keep it insulated.

The 32,000m2 campus has been designed by Stanton Williams for 5,000 students, the design juxtaposes the old and new by linking the Grade II listed granary buildings and transit sheds with a new 200m long building. The reinforced concrete frame of the new building comprises fair-faced concrete walls that are 450mm thick and provide a contrast to the existing buildings.

The new University of the Arts London campus is one of the first parts of the King’s Cross development to be completed. As such, it not only provides Central Saint Martins with the flexible and dynamic spaces that it needs to educate and develop the artists and designers of the future, but also makes a firm statement of the role of the Arts in the quarter, to which it will give critical mass and energy.

Concrete was the material of choice for this project because it was appropriate to the industrial ‘grain’ and brought a strong contrast with existing site materials. The robustness and self-finished aspect of the fair-faced concrete delivers visual weight, strength and solidity whilst providing thermal performance and energy efficiency.