The project has been completed in three phases and provides a new home for several of the Royal College of Art's departments in Battersea.
The Sackler Building for the Painting Department was the first phase, and involved the redevelopment and conversion of an old, single-storey 1950s factory into a series of large studio spaces by inserting a steel box within the original factory walls. The building has a new saw-tooth roof designed to diffuse natural light so that those working in the studio benefit both from natural daylighting and solar shading to prevent glare in their work spaces.
The Dyson Building houses the Printmaking and Photography departments, and has studios overlooking the central main workshop space, a new 220-seat lecture theatre, and a gallery. The design features an exposed in-situ concrete structure and polished precast concrete cladding panels, which required a finely detailed steel frame to allow for the tolerances and adjustment of the large precast panels. A steel framed sawtooth roof provides natural daylighting to the studios on the top floor. The reinforcement was detailed with couplers to allow for the future connection of the phase 3 building.
The Woo Building is located between The Sackler and The Dyson buildings, and houses the Ceramics, Glass, Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery departments. It is an extension of the Dyson Building, with an exposed concrete frame and steel sawtooth rooflights. An additional teaching space is cantilevered out over the entrance passageway with storey height exposed steel trusses anchored back to the concrete frame.
Completed 2009, 2012, 2015.
