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© Morley Von Sternberg
‘the hub’, which will be a resource for start-up businesses so they can come in and use the Wi-Fi and other facilities such as the rapid prototyping kit. This element is funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Ravensbourne is also hoping to raise enough money to build a glass entertainment facility on its roof, from where the visitor can enjoy extensive views of the Thames and beyond. Energy is, of course, a big consideration. The architects have
designed a building which will use less energy than the college’s previous accommodation, largely because the apparatus inside – LED TV screens etc – has been upgraded. But it is also because of things like motion sensors which only switch the lights on when they detect people in the room. Heating and cooling is mechanical, geared toward achieving only a two degree fluctuation from winter to summer, despite large, south-facing windows, but the BREEAM environmental rating for the building has come out well, achieving the ‘excel- lent’ tag. Finally, the exterior cladding is obviously noteworthy. The
anodised aluminium tiles – 28,000 of them – are of three shapes which interlock in a number of different patterns. A gothic rose here, a swirl flourish there. Inspired by the work of Sir Roger Penrose and mathematician Michael Hirschorn, these tiles are in a non-periodic layout, which effectively means they are endless. FOA experimented with them on an unbuilt project, but jumped at the chance of finally bringing them to life here. After experimenting with greens, three colours were
settled on – champagne, silver, and dark brown. Circular windows of different sizes punctuate the skin, lending some- thing of a maritime nature to the scheme. But it is difficult to tell even how many storeys the building stretches to from the outside – once again the overall intention is to make it an ambiguous form which the college hopes will entice curious visitors in. Zaera-Polo says this abstract, mysterious form, ‘almost without scale’, was also a direct response to building in such a powerful, challenging context – the Dome is a hard act to follow. In a sense, where the Dome in its first iteration was a build-
ing in search of content, Ravensbourne is a container for a rich and changing seam of material, ideas and people. With a new Jonson-Banks designed logo and identity which draws on the interlocking nature of the scheme’s tessellating exterior tiles, there is a strong sense of an institution making a fresh start, of rebranding itself through its architecture, of grasping the opportunity that a new location and fresh start can bring. Ravensbourne has eschewed the old, inward-looking, tradi- tional ways of teaching in favour of embracing the new, collaborative, open-plan approach, ensconced in a contem- porary building that is closer to the action. It has been born again.
Architects - FOA Project Manager - Bernard Williams Associates Structural Engineer - Adams Kara Taylor Concrete Frame - Billington Steel Frame - John Doyle Construction Masterplanners - Greenwich Peninsula Regeneration Limited
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