Project PDF - Stanton Williams

© 2011
Media Information
New University of the Arts London Campus
Central Saint Martins at King’s Cross

Project Description
October 2011
To the north of King’s Cross and St Pancras International railway
stations, 67-acres of derelict land are being transformed in what is one
of Europe’s largest urban regeneration projects. The result will be a
vibrant mixed-use quarter, at the physical and creative heart of which
will be the new University of the Arts London campus, home of Central
Saint Martins College of Arts and Design.
Stanton Williams’ design for the £200m new campus unites the
college’s activities under one roof for the first time. It provides
Central Saint Martins with a substantial new building, connected at
its southern end to the Granary Building, a rugged survivor of the
area’s industrial past. The result is a state-of-the-art facility that not
only functions as a practical solution to the college’s needs but also
aims to stimulate creativity, dialogue and student collaboration. A
stage for transformation, a framework of flexible spaces that can be
orchestrated and transformed over time by staff and students where
new interactions and interventions, chance and experimentation can
create that slip-steam between disciplines, enhancing the student
experience. The coming together of all the schools of Central Saint
Martins will open up that potential.
The design aims to maximise the connections between departments
within the building, with student and material movement being
considered 3-dimensionally, as a flow diagram North to South, East to
West, and up and down – similar in many ways to how the grain was
distributed around the site using wagons and turntables.
King’s Cross offered a unique opportunity: a large site within what
promises to be a creative and cultural hub, connected (via King’s
Cross Station and the restored St Pancras International) not only
to the rest of Britain but also to mainland Europe, plus the chance
to develop a robust contemporary architectural response to the
boldness of the existing buildings on the site.
The Granary Building itself has been restored as the main ‘front’ of the
college, facing a new public square that steps down to the Regent’s
Canal. The building was designed in 1851 to receive grain from the
wheat fields of Lincolnshire, unloaded here from railway wagons
onto canal boats for onward transport to the capital’s bakeries. It
comprises a solid, six-storey cubic mass, with an unadorned, 50-metre
wide brick elevation, extended to 100-metres by office additions
flanking the building. To the north, located one to each side of the
Granary Building, are two parallel 180 metres long Transit Sheds. The
design strategy retains the Granary Building, adapted to include
functions such as the college’s library, while the Eastern Transit Shed
behind is converted to create spectacular workshops for the college.
Within the street-level openings of the Western Transit Shed, new shops
and bars will add further life to the area. The historic horse stables
below the Eastern Transit Sheds have been transformed to new cycle
stores for students and staff.
© 2011 2

The bulk of the college’s accommodation, however, is located in a
major addition to the site, two substantial new studio buildings that
occupy the space between the two transit sheds and which, at
the North end of the site present a contemporary elevation to the
surrounding area. The scale of the new addition responds closely to
that of the Granary Building, essentially continuing its massing along
the length of the site. It rises above the level of the transit sheds, using
contemporary materials so that it will stand, beacon-like, as a symbol
of the college’s presence within this rapidly-evolving part of London.
The two new four storey studio buildings are arranged at either side
of a covered central ‘street’, some 110m long, 12m wide and 20m
high, covered by a translucent ETFE roof and punctuated by a regular
rhythm of service cores that accommodate lifts, stairs and toilets. At
the northern end, a new centre for the Performing Arts will house a
fully equipped theatre complete with fly-tower as well as rehearsal
and teaching spaces.
The internal ‘street’ has been conceived as a dynamic area, an
arena for student life, akin to the much-loved stair at the centre of
the college’s previous main building. Bridges linking the various cores
and workspaces cross it, offering break-out areas for meeting, relaxing
and people-watching and exchanging ideas. The street will be used
for exhibitions, fashion shows and performances, the spaces being
large enough to build temporary pavilions for example. Viewing points
allow students to watch others working or performing, and the work of
other disciplines can be seen and exhibited.
At the southern end of the new block and running parallel with
the north end of the Granary Building is a second covered ‘street’,
offering public access through this part of the building interior. Lifts
rising through this space recall the vertical movement of grain, which
gave the complex its original purpose. Flooring details either retain
existing turntables or hint at their historic location, while within the
Granary Building itself, the hoists have been retained, crowning a
newly inserted lightwell. Simple glazing maintain the integrity of the
unbroken openings, rhythmically punctuating the Granary Building’s
main façade.
The new University of the Arts London campus is one of the first parts
of the King’s Cross development to be completed. As such, it not only
provides Central Saint Martins with the flexible and dynamic spaces
that it needs to educate and develop the artists and designers of the
future, but also makes a firm statement of the role of the Arts in the
quarter, to which it will give critical mass and energy.
© 2011 3

Project Details
Facts and Figures
The £200m campus brings together 4,000 Central Saint Martins students
and 1,000 staff under one roof.
It is made up of:
• 10 acres of floor space
• Over 1.3 million timber blocks
• Enough concrete to fill eight Olympic swimming pools
The three-storey building is based around an internal street, naturally lit
through a translucent roof.
It contains four levels of multi-purpose workshops and specialist studios,
including:
• Performance design and practice labs
• Casting, wood fabrication and metal fabrication workshops
• Post-production workshops
• Film, effects and sound studios
• Architecture and spatial studios
• Fashion and textiles studios
• Photography studios and darkrooms
• Product and industrial design studios
• Graphic and communication design studios
• Jewellery workshops
• Art studios
The campus is also home to a 350 seat public theatre with its own
entrance.
It occupies the Grade II listed Granary Building, built in 1851, which
managed the storage and distribution of grain at the height of the
Victorian industrial boom.
It faces onto Granary Square which, when completed in June 2012, will
be one of London’s largest public squares
The campus has been designed by architects Stanton Williams and
forms part of King’s Cross, a 67 acre development in central London
– a new piece of the city with a brand new postcode, London N1C.
King’s Cross is being developed by the King’s Cross Central Limited
Partnership, which brings together Argent Group, London & Continental
Railways and DHL Supply Chain.
© 2011 4

Project Details
Key Values
Project Value: £200M (based on cost of land, building, fit-out and
expansion incl. third floor)
Key dates
Construction Start date: January 2008
Completion Date: April 2011
Date of Occupation: August 2011
Construction phase: January 2008 - August 2011 (Incl. fit-out)
Student arrival: 3rd October 2011
Building Details
Postal Address: Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London, N1C 4AA
Gross Internal Area: approx. 40,000m2
Design team
Site Developer: Argent
Tenant: University of the Arts London
Architect: Stanton Williams
Structure: Scott Wilson
Environmental / M&E engineering: Atelier 10
Architectural lighting: Spiers and Major
Quantity Surveyor / Employer’s Agent: Davis Langdon
Landscape Architect: Townsend Landscape Architects.
Facade consultant: Arup Facades Engineering
CDM coordinator: Scott Wilson.
Contractor team – base build
Main contractor: Bam Construction Limited
Contractor’s Architect: Bam Design (new buildings) / Weedon
Partnership (Granary)
Conservation Architect: Richard Griffiths Architects
Structure: Bam Design (new buildings) AKS Lister Beare (existing
structure)
M&E engineering: Bam Design
Fire consultant: Aecom
Acoustic consultant: Sandy Brown Associates
Access consultant: All Clear Design
Contractor team – fit-out
Contractor: Overbury
Interior fit-out Architect: Pringle Brandon
M&E consultant: AECOM
Fire consultant: AECOM
Theatre consultant: Drama by Design
Acoustic consultant: Sandy Brown Associates
© 2011 5

Notes to Editors
Architects: Stanton Williams
Stanton Williams is an award winning international architectural
practice based in London. The firm has developed its portfolio from
an initial focus on museums and galleries towards a wide variety
of projects, all of which demonstrate the practice’s over-arching
objective of putting the user’s experience of space, light and
materials at the forefront of the agenda. Projects include: Tower
Hill, the recently completed Sainsbury Laboratory in the University of
Cambridge’s botanical gardens and the Hackney Marshes Centre.
Current projects include: the Stadtmuseum Berlin, the Grand Musée
d’Art de Nantes and the Eton Manor site for the London Olympics
2012.
“It has been a privilege to work on such an ambitious scheme that will
bring life back to the Granary Complex. Our design draws inspiration
from the ambition and scale of its Victorian architectural setting and
introduces a strong contemporary intervention that celebrates the
juxtaposition of old and new in its detailing. The thought of 4,000
students inhabiting this once redundant and isolated building on
a daily basis is breathtaking. Our consistent aim has really been to
create a stage for transformation, a framework of spaces that can be
orchestrated and transformed over time by staff and students where
new interactions and interventions, chance and experimentation can
create that slip-steam between disciplines. The coming together of all
the schools of Central Saint Martins will open up that potential.” Paul
Williams
Press Contact
Meike Stockmann
Marketing & Communications Manager
m.stockmann@stantonwilliams.com
Tel: 020 7880 6453
www.stantonwilliams.com
© 2011 6

Notes to Editors
University of the Arts London
University of the Arts London is a collegiate university made up of six
internationally renowned arts, design and communication colleges:
• Camberwell College of Arts
• Central Saint Martins
• Chelsea College of Art and Design
• London College of Communication
• London College of Fashion
• Wimbledon College of Art
Home to almost 20,000 students from 109 countries, the University
is one of the world’s largest provider of education in arts, design,
fashion, communication and the performing arts. The quality of its
teaching attracts almost 5,400 international students, 2,700 from EU
countries and over 11,000 from the UK.
Its alumni include:
• Twelve Turner Prize winners and more than half of all
Turner Prize nominees
• Ten out of the 17 designers named British Designer of
the Year since 1986
• Over half of the designers showcased at
London Fashion Week 2011
• Twelve out of 30 winners of the Jerwood Photography Award
• Oscar and Bafta winners including:
• Sarah Greenwood (Wimbledon) won 2008 BAFTA for
production design for work on Atonement
• Michael Please (Wimbledon) won 2011 BAFTA for Best Short
Animated Film
• Anthony Dod Mantle (LCC) won Oscar in 2009 for
cinematography in Slumdog Millionaire
• Sandy Powell (CSM), costume designer, won Oscar three
times and BAFTA twice for films including Shakespeare In Love
and The Young Victoria
The University has won three prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for:
• Paper conservation teaching and technology (Camberwell, 1996)
• Creativity and innovation in fashion education (CSM, 1998)
• Educating the world’s creative shoe and accessory designers
(LCF, 2007)
Press Contact
Abigail Smith
Head of External and Internal Relations
Communication and External Affairs
University of the Arts London
a.a.smith@arts.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7514 6218
Mob: 07702 678622
www.arts.ac.uk
© 2011 7

Notes to Editors
Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design
An internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in arts
and design, Central Saint Martins was formed in 1989 from the merger
of the Central School of Arts and Crafts (founded in 1896) and St
Martin’s School of Art (founded in 1854).
Its portfolio was further broadened in 1999 following a merger with
Drama Centre London, and again in 2003 when Byam Shaw School of
Art joined CSM.
Graduates of its Schools of Art, Fashion & Textiles, Graphic & Industrial
Design and the recently created Performing Arts are amongst the
most renowned names of the creative industries, and include:
Sarah Burton, Hussein Chalayan, Jarvis Cocker, Sir Terence Conran,
Sir James Dyson, Anthony Gormley, Tom Hardy, PJ Harvey, Stephen
Jones, Isaac Julien, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, M.I.A.,
Phoebe Philo, Sandy Powell, Raquib Shaw, Yinka Shonibare, Posy
Simmonds and Joe Wright.
The College is home to multidisciplinary research centres including
Design Against Crime and the Textiles Futures Research Centre. It
works closely with industry partners to apply its findings and expertise.
Press Contact
Jo Ortmans
Press Officer
Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design
University of the Arts London
j.ortmans@csm.arts.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7514 8098
www.csm.arts.ac.uk
© 2011 8

Notes to Editors
About King’s Cross
King’s Cross is a 67-acre development in central London. We are
creating 8 million sq ft (743,200 sqm) of mixed use space – a new
piece of the city with a brand new postcode, London N1C.
In total, the King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership project is
delivering up to 2,000 new homes (more than 40% will be affordable),
3.4m sq ft net of office space and 500,000sq ft of retail space. There
will be 20 new streets, 10 major public spaces, 50 new buildings and
20 historic buildings and structures are being restored and refurbished
across the site.
To date 22% of the 8 millon sq ft development is now ‘taken’ with
seven significant agreements confirmed at King’s Cross. In order of
moving in they are:
1. University of the Arts London – 5,000 staff and students of Central
Saint Martins College of Art and Design who have started term at
King’s Cross (September 2011)
2. RAM – which is re-opening the Great Northern Hotel in 2012
3. One Housing Group – will own and manage hundreds of
affordable homes. The first two buildings are on site and the first
homes will be ready in 2012
4. Urbanest UK – will deliver a 657-bedroom landmark student
housing scheme ready for occupation in September 2013
5. 5. Camden Council – move into a new office building at Three
Pancras Square in 2014 which will also have a major public leisure
facility, library and access centre
6. BNP Paribas Real Estate – who will move into a new 340,000sq ft
office building at Plot B1. Work is due to begin in autumn 2012, with
delivery by the end of 2014
7. The Aga Khan Development Network and King’s Cross Central
Limited Partnership have entered into agreements to develop
educational, office, cultural, retail and residential spaces.
Construction is due to start in late 2012.
Around King’s Cross, over £2bn has been invested in St Pancras –
King’s Cross transport interchange – which is used by over 400,000
people every day. The latest investment, a new concourse for King’s
Cross station, opens in 2012.
The King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership is investing over £250m in
public realm, energy and other infrastructure including:
• Granary Square – one of the largest public squares in London
• The energy centre and district heating grid – which will supply all
the new buildings with low carbon heat and power – making us
one of the most sustainable developments to come forward in
London
• A new bridge across the Regent’s Canal into Granary Square –
which is now open – as well as major improvements and access to
the canal and its towpath
• 20 new roads including ‘King’s Boulevard’, the first major street to
be built in London in 100 years, which is now open.
For more information visit www.kingscross.co.uk
© 2011 9

Notes to Editors
About King’s Cross
King’s Cross is being developed by the King’s Cross Central Limited
Partnership, which brings together:
• Argent King’s Cross Limited Partnership backed by Argent Group
PLC, one of the UK’s best respected property development
companies and Hermes Real Estate on behalf of the BT Pension
Scheme. Argent is the Asset Manager for King’s Cross Central.
• London and Continental Railways Limited is a UK Governmentowned
property company whose primary focus is the important
regeneration projects at King’s Cross Central and The International
Quarter, Stratford City. Previously LCR delivered the awardwinning
High Speed 1 Railway including the rebirth of St Pancras
International.
• DHL Supply Chain is a world-class provider of supply chain
solutions.
For more information about King’s Cross and images contact:
Emma Cassidy
London Communications Agency
ec@londoncommunications.co.uk
Tel: 020 7612 8478
Mob: 07917 728131
or
Robert Gordon Clark
London Communications Agency
rgc@londoncommunications.co.uk
Tel: 020 7612 8480
Mob: 07973 148238
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B C D C
CSM
Argent
Canal
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B
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Granary Building
Transit Sheds
Studio Buildings
Central Street
East-West link (public access)
Terrace
© 2011 45
D
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UAL Level 00 Plan

B C D C F B
CSM
Argent
A
B
C
E
A
Granary Building
Transit Sheds
Studio Buildings
Central Street
East-West link (public access)
Terrace
© 2011 46
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UAL Level 03 Plan

UAL North Elevation
UAL West Elevation
UAL East Elevation
© 2011 47

UAL Short Section
© 2011 48
UAL Long Section