UCL East Marshgate seeks to redefine the university campus of the future
UCL East Marshgate by Stanton Williams is completed and gears up to welcome its students in east London
Seeking to redefine what a university campus is, UCL East Marshgate is preparing to throw open its doors to its students later in September 2023. The new building, set in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and designed by Stanton Williams, was conceived with high ambition in mind; at the same time, it was born out of rigorous, methodical research and gentle collaboration between architects, academics, students and staff, trying to carve out the space needed for learning to flow and human knowledge to advance.
'We wanted a campus that in a way redefined what a campus is, and how we train the future generation of students and innovators,' says Professor Paola Lettieri, pro-provost of UCL East.
UCL East Marshgate: designing the university campus of the future
From the architects' perspective, designing UCL East was about 'breaking down siloes, collaboration and connecting disciplines. It was also about thinking about how those facilities might work in 20 years time, in the future,' says Gavin Henderson, principal director at Stanton Williams. The fields housed in side include the creative industries, engineering, robotics, green technologies and global health.
The result is a building of considerable size, which was carefully articulated, a volume carved according the light, use and orientation, while following the outline offered by the area's masterplanners. A permeable atrium in the centre connects various uses and the indoors to the outdoors.
This fluid public zone on the ground level spans the height of the building and has an 'almost urban quality' to it. Upstairs are the academic areas, organised in 'vertical neighbourhoods', that is clusters of two to three floors with a shared collaboration space each (Sheppard Robson was a joint interior architect for the scheme).
This distinction between public and more private spaces is subtly visible inside by a set of glass barriers that mean only staff, students and their guests can go beyond a certain point; but this can also be read through the building's materials. Rough textured precast concrete panels that nod to the gravel of the river on site dominate the exterior, but weathered steel highlights entrances and encases the areas that are accessible to all, creating a language that begins to map out what goes on inside.
The client and architect team stress that the ground floor café and the atrium's open space are there to encourage the public to wander in, and stay for a bit. A rotating art display aims to bring a public art twist to this concept too.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
The communal, flexible areas are naturally ventilated, as part of the design team's efforts to reduce the building's energy consumption – although the architects explain that heavy-use teaching areas had to be mechanically ventilated. Still, savings made up elsewhere meant that this building was rated BREEAM Excellent for its environmental qualities, aiming to reach 'net zero carbon by 2035 in keeping with the district’s wider sustainable energy strategy'.
'Drawing on the legacy of Lee Valley's industriousness and creativity, and the exceptional cultural and landscape setting of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Marshgate will be a place of curiosity, learning and collaboration. A place that engages with the surrounding city to create a new kind of university experience that balances a sense of permanence with a designed in flexibility that will both facilitate and embrace the rapidly evolving nature of academic practice,' Henderson says.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
This year's best luxury Christmas hampers for festive celebrations
The best Christmas hampers are a classic gift for a reason: everyone loves receiving a basket of beautifully curated pantry fillers just in time for the festivities. Here are our top picks for 2024
By Rosie Conroy Published
-
17 questions for Michael Kiwanuka
As he prepares to release his fourth album 'Small Changes', we ask Michael Kiwanuka some of life's important questions
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Inside ‘M&OTHERS’, the experimental exhibition dissecting the relationship between fashion and motherhood
A new exhibition at Modemuseum Hasselt, Belgium explores the rarely examined link between fashion and motherhood, in all its forms
By Dal Chodha Published
-
A Peckham house design unlocks a spatial puzzle in south London
Audacious details, subtle colours and a product designer for a client make this Peckham house conversion a unique spatial experience
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Squire & Partners' radical restructure: 'There are a lot of different ways up the firm to partnership'
Squire & Partners announces a radical restructure; we talk to the late founder Michael Squire's son, senior partner Henry Squire, about the practice's new senior leadership group, its next steps and how architecture can move on from 'single leader culture'
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Meet the 2024 Royal Academy Dorfman Prize winner: Livyj Bereh from Ukraine
The 2024 Royal Academy Dorfman Prize winner has been crowned: congratulations to architecture collective Livyj Bereh from Ukraine, praised for its rebuilding efforts during the ongoing war in the country
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
RIBA House of the Year 2024: browse the shortlist and pick your favourite
The RIBA House of the Year 2024 shortlist is out, celebrating homes across the UK: it's time to place your bets. Which will win the top gong?
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The new Canada Water boardwalk is an experience designed to ‘unfold slowly’
A new Canada Water bridge by Asif Khan acts as a feature boardwalk for the London area's town centre, currently under development, embracing nature and wildlife along the way
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The Museum of Shakespeare set to open in east London
The Museum of Shakespeare puts the remains of the ancient Curtain Playhouse at the centre of 'The Stage', a new urban development in the heart of Shoreditch
By Smilian Cibic Published
-
Paddington Square transforms its patch of central London with its 'elevated cube'
Paddington Square by Renzo Piano Building Workshop has been completed, elevating a busy London site through sustainability, modern workspace and a plaza
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Architectural car parks to drive into, in the UK and beyond
Architectural car parks form an important part of urban infrastructure but can provide a design statement too; here are some of the finest examples to peruse, in the UK and beyond
By Ellie Stathaki Published