New institute to train next generation of engineers and architects

Hawkins\Brown has completed a new site for University College London (UCL) at Here East, a technology and creative campus in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This marks the final phase in the company's six-year partnership with UCL Estates for the UCL Bartlett and the School of Architecture, under the Transforming UCL programme.

The 6,200 sq m space will house the Bartlett’s Real Estate Institute alongside a unique fabrication, robotics and prototyping facility for joint use by faculties for the Built Environment and Engineering Sciences. This will allow the University to expand its range of academic subjects, including a new undergraduate degree focusing on engineering and architectural design. Professor Alan Penn, Dean of The Bartlett, stated: “The space makes it possible for us to develop ways to intervene in the built environment at extreme scales; from full-scale construction components to tele-robotic engineering at a cellular level, through to the valuation of the intangible aspects of the built environment, that will help investors create public good.”

The architects responded to the varied requirements of the site's facilities, placing the teaching studios and the Real Estate Institute alongside the glazed exterior of the building in order to benefit fom natural light, while the robotic area and laboratories are “black box” spaces, artificially lit and mechanically ventilated to give the necessary degree of environmental control. 

The design includes elements to encourage collaboration between disciplines. On the ground floor, a 330-seat auditorium contains a series of steps and terraces providing the main area for socialising and events, overlooked from windows within the Real Estate Institute.

Tom Noonan, Associate at Hawkins\Brown, said: “Finding ways to accommodate the broad array of uses, facilities and environments within the building has been an exciting challenge. We hope the end result will make for a stimulating series of spaces that will enable new directions of technological and academic conversations to inspire the next generation of architecture and engineering students."

Lucy Nordberg

TenderStream Research Specialist & Editor

This tender was first published by TenderStream on 20.12.12. See the original brief here

Start your free trial here or email our team directly at customerservices@tenderstream.com