School for Artists in Shoreditch, East London Educational Architecture Images, Design

School for Artists in Shoreditch

Learning Facility East London, UK education design by Walter Leone Arquitecto

27 Jan 2016

School for Artists in Shoreditch, London

Design: Walter Leone Arquitecto

Location: Shoreditch, London, England, UK

The aim of the School for Artists in Shoreditch project is to build an artistic educational ensemble integrated to the local community through different elements and designs. To do so, an additional arrangement is suggested. An access plaza is introduced downslope into the building, where workshops, music, sculpting, painting and cinematographic events can take place.

The stairways can be used as an open amphitheatre or as an auditorium where seminars, presentations and lectures can be held. The general public will have access to the building outside academic hours. There is also a public art library, as well as a small gallery to present the work of the students. This alternative not only represents an expansion of the program but also adds a cultural dimension to the existing educational project, which further raises the social integration possibilities.

The building is composed of three separated blocks, which have different functions: an office block, an education block and a culture block. They are joint by a translucent ceiling, which gives daylight a prominent role, as the whole building is naturally illuminated. The educational block has two classrooms and one workshop on each floor, which can be connected through a folding panel, providing adaptable spaces for special activities. This also allows having different school activities at each floor. The floor dedicated to the music school is underground in order to better control the acoustics and to link it harmoniously with the ensemble.

The library is located at the entry level while the painting school and the sculpture school are located on the following upper floors, joint to the cultural block. The transparent workshops allow visual contact with the latter. Finally, at the highest floor, which is higher than the other two blocks, there is the cinema school as they need more privacy and better control of the façade’s transparencies to operate properly.

The cultural block, located on the South side, is elevated to create the aforementioned access plaza. It is composed of an auditorium and a system of stairs and ramps, with a display case all along. The office area, located on the North side, is closed to the street and faces the interior open spaces. Then it opens to the street through the gallery on the first floor. The restaurant is located outside the building, bordering the plaza and the South entry.

The building includes a pass through design between the North and South streets. When visiting it, the relation between the exterior and the interior; between light and shadow; between what is public and what is private and what is collective and what is intimate, clearly jump to the eye.