Post-grad and entrepreneur centre will complete college’s Battersea campus
Herzog & de Meuron has submitted a planning application for the Royal College of Art’s £108m post-graduate centre in Battersea.
The Swiss architect behind the Tate Modern extension built by Mace and the practice designing a new ground for reigning Premier League champions Chelsea won the flagship project in an international competition which included Diller Scofidio & Renfro, the recent winner of the City of London concert hall in the Barbican.
Herzog & de Meuron’s building will complete the RCA’s campus just south of Battersea Bridge and will sit next to three buildings by masterplanner Haworth Tompkins: the Sackler, Dyson and Woo Buildings.
The new building for postgraduate students and entrepreneurs will contain studios, workshops and incubator units, along with a café and art materials shop. The plans also propose improved routes through the site and public realm work.
It is part of the 180-year-old college’s transformation into a science, technology, engineering, art and maths-focused postgraduate university.
RCA vice chancellor Paul Thompson said it would facilitate the provision of 10 new programmes and the expansion of the college’s research into computer and materials science, the impact of the digital economy, advanced manufacturing and intelligent mobility.
“The RCA is committed to nurturing the next generation of creative entrepreneurs,” he said.
“We are thrilled with how Herzog & de Meuron have responded to our brief to create our new centre in Battersea to embody this vision, helping us to deliver transformational experiences for our students and ensuring that the UK continues to lead the world in art and design.”
The invited design competition, run by Malcolm Reading Consultants, attracted 97 expressions of interest.
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