This Schmidt Hammer Lassen design provides all the hallmarks of this leading Architectural firm.
“City of Westminster College’s new campus at Paddington Green in the heart of central London is constructed on the site of its previous building, a failing 1960s block, and will provide state-of-the-art facilities for students as well as a superb amenity for the local community.The new main campus is designed to be open, connected, flexible and inspiring. The building has a simple geometric form that rotates around a dynamic, spiralling inner atrium, creating a flexible and unifying organisation that facilitates future extension. The College’s new progressive approach to learning is supported with study zones in and around the atrium where students can study in groups or individually. While intended primarily for teaching purposes – to support the College’s extensive and growing range of technical, vo-cational and academic courses – the building also accommodates a theatre, a café and other public spaces. Teaching facilities include a wide range of specialist workshops, laboratories and studios, a large sports hall and a double-height learning centre, as well as standard class-rooms with IT facilities.The building is located and designed to take best advantage of green parkland to the south and west. Its cantilevered decks to the south create solar shading and external green spaces and terracing form an integral part of the campus. The building is designed to be sustainable and energy efficient and the scheme will have low maintenance liabilities.”
“The development will reduce the carbon footprint of the College in accordance with the GLA’s initiative to “Be Lean, Be Clean, Be Green”, improving energy efficiency and harnessing the full benefits of renewable energy. Although the building design will not be assessed by BREEAM, it will use the emerging BREEAM framework for the Further Education sector as the basis for the design of M&E services.”
(Above text taken directly from the Schmidt Hammer Lassen project site as permitted)
Merlin supplied over one (1) kilometre of trench heating for this project working closely with Rotary Southern. The college will be operational January 2011