City & Guilds of London Art School Phase 3

Phase Three is the final stage of our masterplan for City & Guilds of London Art School. This involves enlargement of the stone and wood-carving studios and the creation of new studios at first floor level. The carving studio works are complete, and the new studio extensions have received planning permission.

Many of the design principles were established as part of the 2007 Masterplan and remain unchanged: new top-lit studios constructed over the existing studio spaces with areas below utilised for other purposes which do not require top light; reception, workshops, lecture space, storage, and new WCs. Visual presentation to Cleaver square, which is currently very poor, will be upgraded, and new levels of access and flexibility introduced. New construction would be visually distinct from the existing building fabric.

The design uses London stock bricks, like the existing building, but in a contemporary way in vertical panels. This will be sympathetic to the architecture of the square, whilst expressing clearly the difference between the retained Victorian brickwork at ground floor level and the first-floor extension above. Extensive exploration of the nature of what constitutes an ‘ideal’ fine art studio was an interesting process. Initially it had been planned to replicate the current studios but a level higher, but this resulted in a building form that some residents of Cleaver Square found discordant. The new spaces have an asymmetrical section, with a partly flat roof. This results in perfect north, indirect lighting for the work spaces, and the correct rake for south-facing solar panels. Letter carving, one of the Art School’s specialities, will be used in the brickwork to discreetly mark the building and enhance its presence on the square.

Lambeth Council and Cleaver Square Residents’ Association supported the scheme and planning permission was granted at the first application.