London School of Economics and Political Science
London, United Kingdom · Under Construction
Photo · Picture Plane
A precedent for integrating high-density contemporary academic buildings within a historic urban campus fabric, utilizing deep stone fins and stepped massing to negotiate scale and light.
- What we like about this project
- An elevated outdoor terrace with planting is nestled on a setback between the lower podium and the taller stone volumes.
Materials
- limestone
- brick
- glass
- granite-paver
- bronze-anodized-aluminum
Visual identifiers
- stone-fins
- stepped-massing
- urban-alleyway
- historic-integration
- pedestrian-plaza
Style tags
- contemporary
- rationalist
- monumental
- contextual
Visual tags
- academic-campus
- urban-infill
- limestone-facade
- contemporary-insertion
- civic-space
- london-architecture
- Geometry
- The new building features a stepped, interlocking massing of light-colored stone blocks that rise behind a historic brick street wall. The facade is organized with deep vertical stone fins and recessed window bays that create a strong play of shadow and depth.
- Facade system
- Precast stone rainscreen with deep integrated vertical fins and recessed glazing units.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with precast stone cladding panels.
- Spatial scale
- Multi-story academic complex framing a pedestrian-only street scale, transitioning from a human-scaled ground level to mid-rise towers.
- Lighting
- Soft, diffused late afternoon daylight with a gentle warm glow on the upper stone volumes and cool shadows in the pedestrian street canyon.
- Atmosphere
- A bustling yet academic atmosphere where historic brick meets crisp, modern limestone under a soft twilight sky.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban university campus setting in London, integrating new contemporary structures with existing historic brick and stone institutional buildings.
- Spatial experience
- The pedestrian approaches through a paved urban alleyway framed by historic brick facades, opening up to a dynamic view of the modern, light-toned stone towers rising in the background, creating a sense of civic density and academic campus integration.
- Composition rhythm
- The vertical rhythm of the historic sash windows on the right is echoed and reinterpreted in the deep vertical stone piers of the new building in the background.
- Style reading
- Contemporary monumental rationalism
- Program
- University academic and student center
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- limestone, brick, glass, granite-paver, bronze-anodized-aluminum
- Visual identifiers
- stone-fins, stepped-massing, urban-alleyway, historic-integration, pedestrian-plaza
- Style tags
- contemporary, rationalist, monumental, contextual
- Visual tags
- academic-campus, urban-infill, limestone-facade, contemporary-insertion, civic-space, london-architecture
- Geometry
- The new building features a stepped, interlocking massing of light-colored stone blocks that rise behind a historic brick street wall. The facade is organized with deep vertical stone fins and recessed window bays that create a strong play of shadow and depth.
- Facade system
- Precast stone rainscreen with deep integrated vertical fins and recessed glazing units.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with precast stone cladding panels.
- Spatial scale
- Multi-story academic complex framing a pedestrian-only street scale, transitioning from a human-scaled ground level to mid-rise towers.
- Lighting
- Soft, diffused late afternoon daylight with a gentle warm glow on the upper stone volumes and cool shadows in the pedestrian street canyon.
- Atmosphere
- A bustling yet academic atmosphere where historic brick meets crisp, modern limestone under a soft twilight sky.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban university campus setting in London, integrating new contemporary structures with existing historic brick and stone institutional buildings.
- Spatial experience
- The pedestrian approaches through a paved urban alleyway framed by historic brick facades, opening up to a dynamic view of the modern, light-toned stone towers rising in the background, creating a sense of civic density and academic campus integration.
- Composition rhythm
- The vertical rhythm of the historic sash windows on the right is echoed and reinterpreted in the deep vertical stone piers of the new building in the background.
- Style reading
- Contemporary monumental rationalism
- Program
- University academic and student center
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture