Royal College of Art in London announces Herzog & de Meuron building and Kensington campus refresh

The Royal College of Art (RCA) has announced a campus refresh that will evolve the educational vision of the post-graduate university. Architectural updates include a new Herzog & de Meuron building and a revitalisation of the historic Kensington campus. These will contribute to the hastening academic pursuit of the RCA to cross-pollinate design disciplines with those of science.
Herzog & de Meuron’s building design for the Battersea campus – for which 70 per cent of philanthropic funding has now been achieved – will hold a vast, flexible hangar-style space at its heart, flanked by two adjoined buildings catering to studios, workshops, labs and research centre facilities.
The new RCA Battersea Building. Image: © Herzog & de Meuron
After this project completes (2022 projected) attention will turn to the historic campus in Kensington. The Darwin Building, designed by British architects Sir Hugh Casson, H.T. Cadbury-Brown and Robert Goodden and opened in 1961, will undergo revitalization. Plans will dramatically update function, yet also look back to celebrate and reconnect with the radical founding values of the college
RCA Darwin Building, Kensington
Founded in 1837, the RCA is a postgraduate university that describes itself as a ‘radical traditionalist in a fast-paced world.’ First founded as a response to the first Industrial revolution, now the school is reacting to the current digital and economic revolution. New programmes with a focus on nano and soft robotics, computer science and machine learning, materials science and the circular economy such as the already introduced Environmental Architecture and Digital Direction programmes that will be developed and expanded on further – all made possible by the new building and campus designs.
Notable architectural alumni include Sir Ridley Scott, Sir David Adjaye and Thomas Heatherwick, while the Sir Jony Ive takes up the position of chancellor. Ive describes the university as an environment of cross-pollination that ‘encourages an acceptance of the challenges associated with doing hard things, encouraging the curiosity, openness and care that are at the heart of innovation’.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the RCA website and the Herzog & de Meuron website
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Interactive exhibition at Procuratie Vecchie in Venice encourages coexistence and collaboration
Generali Group opens interactive exhibition ‘A World of Potential’ in the restored Procuratie Vecchie in Venice
By Ifeoluwa Adedeji • Published
-
Candela C-8 Polestar Edition hydrofoil boat lifts Swedish luxury design
Developed with car brand Polestar, the latest Candela C-8 electric hydrofoil boat blends high performance and high style with zero emissions
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Plaster master: Elizabeth Garouste creates a new free-flowing collection for Ralph Pucci
Ralph Pucci presents a new body of work by veteran designer Elizabeth Garouste, featuring mirrors and sconces made of plaster in Ralph Pucci's Manhattan sculpture studio
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf unveil Philadelphia’s Calder Gardens design
Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf's design for the new Calder Gardens in downtown Philadelphia is set to be a tranquil tribute to artist Alexander Calder
By Hannah Silver • Last updated
-
Matthew Avallone proposes ‘inhabitable park-scape’ for togetherness in Tijuana
Our Next Generation 2022 showcase shines a light on 22 outstanding graduates from around the globe, in seven creative fields. Here, we profile architecture graduate Matthew Avallone, from the Royal College of Art, UK
By Nasra Abdullahi • Last updated
-
AstraZeneca’s Discovery Centre is ‘a landscape of different situations’
Tour AstraZeneca's brand new research and development hub, The Discovery Centre, designed by Herzog & de Meuron in Cambridge, UK
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
SongEun Art & Cultural Foundation marks Herzog & de Meuron’s South Korean debut
Herzog & de Meuron’s South Korean debut is a triangular triumph for ST International and its SongEun Art & Cultural Foundation in Seoul
By Andy St Louis • Last updated
-
Herzog & de Meuron returns to Duisburg for MKM Museum Küppersmühle extension
Tour the new extension at the MKM Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, Germany, a cultural hub courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
Step inside One Park Drive, Herzog & de Meuron’s first UK residential tower
We visit One Park Drive in Canary Wharf, Herzog & de Meuron’s new London completion, and the studio's very first residential high-rise in the UK
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
M+ Museum in Hong Kong announces 2021 opening
Herzog and de Meuron's much-anticipated design completes, as the Hong Kong visual culture museum sets its sights on a 2021 opening
By Elly Parsons • Last updated
-
Herzog & de Meuron renovate Basel’s iconic Volkshaus hotel
Herzog & de Meuron completes Switzerland's latest boutique hotel, the Volkshaus, in Basel, reviving, at the same time, a landmark part of the city
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated