Allies and Morrison has seen its design for the London College of Fashion in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park open to students – and the public in east London.
On the banks of the WaterWorks River, sat between the Hadid’s curvaceous aquatics centre and O’Donnell + Tuomey’s sculpted V&A East, is the new home for the London College of Fashion (LCF).
Designed by Allies and Morrison, the University of the Arts London’s new premises stands out from among its creatively shaped neighbours, also standing proud of the jagged sawtooth roof of the new Sadler’s Wells East (also by O’Donnell + Tuomey), chiefly for its scale and orthogonal forms.
For starters, it’s big. And it has to be, too: the LCF’s new home provides more than 40,000 square metres of space for 5,000 students, spread across 17 storeys, on which can be found classrooms, workshops, offices, a lecture theatre, canteen, an archive, digital studios and social spaces. Once sprawled out over six sites across the capital, now all of the LCF’s departments can be under one roof, allowing those studying journalism or jewellery, fashion illustration or footwear, menswear or marketing to share the same space.
It is also perhaps the formal antidote to those around it. Its square plan paves the way for a simple rectilinear column grid structure than facilitates central circulation, allowing for the college’s workshops, designed to be as flexible and adaptable as possible, beeing placed on its perimeter – meaning students can work with some of the best views in London.
In the heart of this plan throughout the building are fixed elements: stairs; atria; lifts; and WCs. More dramatically, on the lower levels, vertical circulation is celebrated via a dramatic sweeping staircase that cascades down through the building’s atrium that spills out into the LCF’s entrance hall.
This is an experience the public can enjoy as well, for you can walk right in off the street, through its colonnade, and up the spiral stairs to peruse student work being exhibited in the Waterfront gallery, live workshops taking place in the LCF’s ‘Maker Square’, as well as the expansive views into Central London – while enjoying something from the café.
Entering the LCF, it’s orthogonality dissipates not just at the arrival at the stair, but upon getting closer to the building’s façade where scalloped concrete cladding reveals itself.
The core is concrete too, as is the main stair that runs down to the entrance. The justification is that the material is robust, able to withstand everything that those embarking on a fashion-related course can chuck at it (or stick on it, for that matter), also minimising the need to apply further internal finishes. The project has achieved BREEAM Outstanding and, say the architects, uses high levels of cement replacement (up to 50% GGBS) to reduce the building’s operational and embodied carbon footprint.
“This is a unique project in that it is a building with three clients, and the architecture addresses each of their respective priorities,” said Alex Wraight, partner at Allies and Morrison.
“The generous, covered colonnades and permeable, welcoming relationship to the public realm and Queen Elizabeth Park beyond reflect the London Legacy Development Corporation’s wider stewardship role; the robust materiality, simple and distinctive form, and flexible and adaptable configuration of the perimeter workshops respond to University of Arts London’s desire, as landlord, for an asset for the long-term; and the intimate scale of the spaces within the heart, and the glimpsed diagonal views and slower pace of circulation it affords, were conceived through extensive conversations with the faculty, staff and students of the College itself, as occupier, with the experience of the individual in mind.”
“Our new campus is allowing us to teach, create and collaborate in ways we could never have before – bringing together students and staff from across London and opening new opportunities to work with partners and our local community,” added James Purnell, president and vice chancellor of UAL. “East Bank was a major undertaking and represents our commitment to our students and equipping them with the skills demanded by the rapidly evolving fashion industry. For 120 years, London College of Fashion has been a part of east London, fostering generations of creative talent. With the opening of East Bank, we now have a state-of-the-art facility to nurture the next wave of industry leaders.”
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