Central St Martin’s
College of Art & Design building - proposal
Images + Text received 160408:
Kings Cross Central image © Andrew Putler
University of the Arts, King’s Cross, London
Introduction
London Borough of Camden approved the planning permission for the new
campus for the University of the Arts London’s Central Saint Martins
College of Art and Design. In 2011, 5,000 staff and students will move
from a number of disparate buildings on six separate sites across London
to a state of the art campus in King’s Cross. The College will form
the centre of a new cultural quarter in London, part of the regeneration
of King’s Cross Central, a 67 acre development that is the largest
in London for 150 years. The development is being led by Argent plc with
landowners London & Continental Railways and DHL-Excel.
Kings Cross Central image © Andrew Putler
At its heart will be the reinvented Granary complex, the new home for
Central Saint Martins. The campus will be housed within the unique Grade
II listed industrial complex, and will embrace the historic buildings
as well as introducing powerful new contemporary interventions.
Stanton Williams first worked on proposals for a new building in Holborn,
designed to unite Central Saint Martins’ sites under one roof, following
an international competition in 2001.
The University of the Arts was offered the opportunity to move Central
Saint Martins to a new site at King’s Cross by the developer Argent
in 2006, a site of exceptional scale and quality offering the potential
and flexibility that was not possible on the original Holborn site. Stanton
Williams, who had previously worked with Argent on the award-wining Brindleyplace
in Birmingham, were asked to develop a strategic plan and design for a
new university campus that would allow Central Saint Martins to offer
their students world-class facilities in a dynamic space, providing a
highly visible identity and new focus for the College.
Kings Cross Central image © Andrew Putler
The new campus will help to inspire cross-discipline connections that
the University believes will be critical to the future of the creative
industries. The space has been planned to create a social hub, with strong
connections, providing many opportunities for casual conversations and
exchange of ideas, and encouraging collaborations between departments,
from fashion and art to dance and graphics.
Central Saint Martins, Holborn
The Central School of Arts & Craft’s first Principal WR Lethaby
– an architect, designer and educationalist – asked that the
building at Southampton Row, opened in 1908, be “plain, reasonable
and well built”. The building helped pioneer a new form of teaching
where students learnt by using tools in a workshop environment.
True to this founding spirit, the new campus is designed to be flexible,
tough and ‘robust’ – providing spaces that will allow the
different disciplines within the college to develop their own identities,
while maintaining the integrity of the campus as a whole.
Careful attention to detail: respecting the austere beauty of the existing
Eastern Goods Yard Buildings; juxtaposing old with new; and introducing
a robust, contemporary palette of materials of high quality concrete,
steel and glass, will ensure that the campus reflects its roots, while
providing state of the art facilities for a new creative generation.
King’s Cross
The imposing Grade II listed Granary building, built in 1852 by Lewis
Cubitt (the architect behind King’s Cross station), and adjoining
19th-century transit sheds, were used to transport commodities and grain
from the wheat fields of Lincolnshire to London’s bakers, and coal
from the north east of England. Remnants of the original loading platforms,
wagon turntables and tracks still remain. Hoists lifted sacks from the
railway wagons into canal boats docked beneath, while horses were stabled
beneath the railway sheds.
These vertical connections, so important for the functioning of its original
purpose, are reflected in the design of the new building. New lightwells,
drawing light deep into the core of the building, reinforce the original
vertical links, while new glazed rooflights will display the original
hoists. Scenic glass lifts will transport people, rather than grain, to
the higher floors. The stables will find a new use as bicycle stores for
students and staff. Horizontal connections have also been carefully developed
to maximise student interaction, ease circulation while respecting the
historic fabric.
The canal basin in front of the building, long since filled in, forms
part of the new Granary Square leading down to the canal. Designed by
Townsend Landscape Architects, it will feature hundreds of fountains and
is defined at its eastern edge by a contemporary two-storey glass cafe
pavilion designed by Stanton Williams to add life and interest to the
new public space.
The site
The Eastern Goods Yard, part of the King’s Cross Goods Yard, is located
in the centre of the King’s Cross Central development, to the north
of the Regent’s Canal.
The six storey brick, cast iron and timber Granary building is 55 metres
in length and 31 metres deep. It is flanked on either side by the Eastern
and Western Transit sheds, also designed by Cubitt, that are each 180
metres long, 25 metres wide and 7.6 metres high. The Assembly shed, between
the two transit sheds, was originally used to marshall rail wagons.
Offices were added to the southern end of the transit sheds towards the
end of the nineteenth century. The Goods Yard retains many of the original
rails and turntables within its granite setts. A large cast iron sawtooth
canopy, the West Handyside Canopy, running alongside the Eastern Transit
shed will be refurbished and retained, and will feature glazed north lights
and photo voltaic cells.
The Western Transit shed is not part of the University campus. Creating
visual unity on the site, these will be redesigned by Stanton Williams,
providing flexible retail and leisure space, including new headquarter
offices for Argent, with historic features such as sections of train platforms
retained.
The complex includes other historic structures, including the East Handyside
Canopy, Regeneration House and Midland Shed, which are outside the scope
of the project.
New buildings
Flexible and adaptable new four storey studio buildings, new performance
spaces and a new top lit internal north/south street will replace the
Assembly Sheds, transforming the space while respecting the scale and
massing of the existing buildings, and roof lines.
The sculptural cantilevered form of the new theatre space at the north
of the site, with its own entrance, is designed with high quality in situ
concrete with inset glazing and metalwork, to create a contemporary and
contrasting composition in between the two historic transit sheds.
Key historical elements of the Eastern Transit Shed, East Granary Office
and the Granary building will be carefully refurbished and repaired, with
the internal space transformed and contemporary insertions and new structural
openings, which complement the historic fabric, drawing light deep into
the building.
To improve circulation and enhance light and views of the surrounding
spaces, new arches will be inserted into the brick wall between the Eastern
Transit Shed and new buildings, and original blind arches opened up. Bricked
up windows in the granary building will also be re-opened. The original
cast iron beams will be retained to frame the entrances into a new covered
street.
Public access will be encouraged on the site, with the new internal east/west
link to the north of the Granary Building. A top lit north/south street
acts as the main circulation route within the Central Saint Martins campus.
To provide shelter from the elements, it will be covered with ETFE, a
material selected for its improved thermal performance, exceptional light
transmission and light weight construction. New connections and generously
wide bridges, spanning and animating the internal street, will encourage
student interaction. The street space is large and flexible enough to
accommodate a range of activities, such as fashion shows, exhibitons and
social areas.
Facilities
The new campus will provide :
· Dynamic new teaching spaces, studios and workshops
· Social spaces including restaurants and cafes
· Lecture theatre and seminar facilities for up to 350 people
· Flexible performance, rehearsal and exhibition spaces –
a main theatre that can accommodate up to 280 people, a 100 seat studio
and foyer bar, for both student and public access
· A museum and gallery
· Library and archive facilities
· A research centre and innovation centre
· A roof terrace with dramatic city views
· State of the art wi-fi services and technology
· Office accomodation and security checkpoints
Sustainability
The University’s brief was to provide an environmentally sensitive
building, minimising impact on natural resources. The building’s
design maximises natural daylight, while respecting its historic character.
The holistic and sustainable energy strategy, which includes the use of
thermal mass to cool the building, insulation, sensitive double glazing
of original windows, and the use of photovolatic cells, means the building
is working towards a BREEAM rating of ‘excellent’.
Kings Cross
Central architects : Stanton Williams
The University of the Arts, encompassing Central Saint Martin’s,
Camberwell College of Arts, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London
College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College
of Art, was formed in 2004 and is the largest university for art, design,
fashion and the performing arts in Europe. Renowned alumni include Lucian
Freud, John Galliano and Stella McCartney
Outline planning permission for the whole 67 acre King’s Cross Central
estate, including the granary complex, was granted by the London Borough
of Camden in December 2006. A detailed planning application for this project,
the first to be submitted for the whole site, was made in September 2007
The total construction value of the project is approximately £150
million including the public realm
The area of the new campus for the University of the Arts is 39,000 sq
m.
The juxtaposition of old and new in the development is being informed
by other award-winning projects in Stanton Williams’ portfolio –
including the new galleries at the Grade I listed Compton Verney in Warwickshire,
and transformation of the historic headland and visitor facilities at
Whitby Abbey.
The Eastern Goods Yard site was vacant by the end of 2007. Construction
work will commence in spring 2008, and practical completion is scheduled
for December 2010. The building will open as Central Saint Martins’
new campus in September 2011.
The project is being constructed as a design and build contract by contractor
HBG.
CABE says: “We congratulate the design team and client on overcoming
the considerable challenges associated with developing the Eastern Goods
Yard site, to produce a remarkable scheme that is sensitive to context
yet bold in its vision.”
Previously:
Info from Stanton Williams Architects 7Nov 2007
King’s Cross Central – Eastern Goods Yard
Kings Cross Central image © Andrew Putler
Stanton Williams’ design for the mixed use scheme responds to the
raw beauty and industrial background of the Granary Building and its Transit
Sheds, by drawing the height, scale and texture of the new College from
the massing and grain of the Grade II listed structure. The College will
be a light-filled contemporary building providing art and dance studios,
office, theatre, exhibition space, bars, restaurants and a roof garden.
Kings Cross Central image © Andrew Putler
At the heart of the College will be a top lit main ‘street’
over sailed by bridges, functioning as circulation space, meeting and
exhibition area.
Kings Cross Central image © Andrew Putler
Central Saint Martins will occupy the greater part of the King’s
Cross Granary Complex. Granary Square will be a vibrant public space overlooking
the Regent’s Canal, surrounded by cafes and restaurants and giving
access to the retail and office units housed in the Western Transit Shed.
Kings Cross Central image © Andrew Putler
King’s Cross Central is one of the most significant development and
regeneration opportunities in London. It is being developed by Argent
and owned by London and Continental Railways and DHL-Exel. For more information
visit www.argentkingscross.com
Kings Cross Central image © Andrew Putler
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