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UCL Bartlett School of Architecture opens new home

16 December 2016

Image gallery Video UCL opened today the new central London home of the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture which will provide facilities for 1,000 staff and students and is the first major project to be completed in the university's programme to upgrade its Bloomsbury campus.

22 Gordon St

The building at 22 Gordon Street, which has undergone extensive renewal, will enable the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture to deliver innovative new programmes for students as well as providing a large exhibition space which will be open to the public.

The refurbishment, designed by leading architects Hawkins\Brown, will double the space available in a modern, light-filled building built on the structural concrete frame of its predecessor.

It will provide students with the flexibility to work and learn as well as offering more studio and breakout space to encourage collaboration amongst students and staff.

The project was led by UCL Estates as part of the Transforming UCL programme, the largest capital programme in the university's history which involves the investment of £1.2 billion to upgrade and expand UCL's accommodation and facilities.

"The opening of 22 Gordon Street is an important milestone in our Transforming UCL programme, providing architecture students with state-of-the art facilities in a new building that meets UCL's ambitions to provide high quality, sustainable environments for teaching, learning and research," said Professor Michael Arthur, UCL President & Provost.

The expansion at 22 Gordon Street, combined with new manufacture-focused facilities at the UCL Bartlett's new site Here East in east London, will allow the architecture school to launch four new programmes for September 2017, including a MEng in Engineering and Architectural Design which will be delivered jointly with UCL Engineering.

"The hard work over the past four years has resulted in a fantastic building for the faculty, the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture and a prized building for UCL. 22 Gordon Street introduces a new generation of staff and students to the possibility of what can happen through effective collaboration," said Alan Penn, Dean of the UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment.

The UCL Bartlett School of Architecture is consistently ranked among the top architecture schools worldwide. When the building opened 40 years ago it was designed to house 380 students and 90 staff. The school now has around 1,000 students and 134 staff.

The new building is on the site of Wates House, the home of the architecture school in Bloomsbury since the 1970s. The retention of the concrete structure of Wates House has helped to significantly reduce carbon emissions and landfill waste associated with the construction project, in line with UCL's sustainability and environmental strategy.

"A large number of the Hawkins\Brown team are alumni of the Bartlett and have fond memories of the old Wates House. This was a challenging and hugely rewarding project which has created a building that not only provides a rich mix of academic spaces, but is also better integrated to its environment and welcoming to the public," said Euan Macdonald, partner at Hawkins\Brown.


View image gallery: 22 Gordon Street

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View video: New home for UCL Bartlett School of Architecture

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  • 22 Gordon Street - copyright Jack Hobhouse

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Email: m.orgill[at]ucl.ac.uk