Wimbledon School of Arts

The new building within Wimbledon School of Art’s campus provides new studios, lecture space, café and common room and followed analysis and masterplan work to select the most appropriate location within the estate. Built into a courtyard and abutting suburban terraced housing, the building is predominately single storey, allowing excellent north light to the studio and has a single upper volume for lecture, multimedia and installations.

The brief was developed in consultation with staff and students through a series of workshops and reviews.
The building has low energy usage with efficiencies drawn from its excellent daylighting and highly insulated envelope associated high thermal mass. Ventilation is natural throughout the studio areas.

The new building gives a larger platform and an increased profile for the annual degree shows. During the academic year full time, part time, visitor and community use makes this a vibrant heart of the 1930s complex. The collaboration with John Mitchell (a former head of painting at the school) for the glazed brick wall to the courtyard has a timeless quality, not a loud attention-grabbing gesture but by the same token is more likely to last.