At the building’s ‘heart’, a singular, yet ever changing interconnected atrium links public-facing spaces like an auditorium, gallery, and library at the lower levels, transitioning to workshops, studios, and roof terraces higher up. Sculptural stairs, like catwalks themselves, link the College’s floors, while workshops wrap the perimeter, overlooking the surrounding park. The materials palette is deliberately pared back allowing the creative flair of students and faculty to take centre-stage. A trio of materials shape the environment; concrete as the structural skeleton, a warm maple provides the tactile elements and dark metal accommodates the services and frames the large, warehouse-like windows, inspired by one of the College’s former sites.

Several nods to the past have been woven into the fabric of this new home. As London College of Fashion’s ‘forever home’, sustainability and longevity were essential. The project achieved BREEAM Outstanding and creative engineering and high levels of cement replacement (up to 50% GGBS) reduced embodied carbon. A high recycled aluminium content used in windows and curtain walling was produced using hydroelectric power. This stacked, vertical faculty is both lofty and pragmatic, sensitive and dramatic, supporting the College with its many strands of teaching and expression.

A place with personality and confidence, built to last, it combines architectural rigour with an informal, creative atmosphere, supporting a lasting legacy for London’s fashion education.