{"id":188210,"date":"2025-10-09T14:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/188210\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T14:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:12:10","slug":"stirling-prize-finalist-reveals-90m-plans-to-overhaul-rca-kensington-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/188210\/","title":{"rendered":"Stirling Prize finalist reveals \u00a390m plans to overhaul RCA Kensington campus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Working with Clementine Blakemore Architects,\u00a0the practice \u2013 whose <a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/stirling-prize-2025-bookies-slash-odds-on-appleby-blue-victory\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Appleby Blue Almshouse<\/a> is shortlisted for this year\u2019s RIBA Stirling Prize \u2013 plans to carry out a \u2018careful balance of conservation and transformation\u2019 on the famous building designed by HT Cadbury-Brown and Hugh Casson.<\/p>\n<p>According to the RCA, the scheme for the block in London\u2019s Albertopolis district has undergone \u2018extensive consultation\u2019 with the college community and local partners, including Westminster City Council and Historic England.<\/p>\n<p>The proposals aim to meet the needs of a modern teaching environment\u2019 and ensure the \u2018buildings can serve future generations of students\u2019 while protecting the RCA\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n<p>Works are set to be phased, starting later this year and completing in 2032, allowing the RCA to continue its teaching and research throughout the seven-year overhaul.<\/p>\n<p>The project will create new teaching and learning spaces, modernise studios and workshops, and open up the campus with step-free access and more areas open to the public.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the plans, the historic 1851 Place entrance facing the Royal Albert Hall will be reinstated, providing \u2018a striking new gateway\u2019 and reconnecting the RCA to Exhibition Road\u2019s world-famous museums and institutions.<\/p>\n<p>A new caf\u00e9, gallery and event spaces are proposed so as to \u2018invite greater public engagement\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>RCA president and vice-chancellor Christoph Lindner said the project represented a \u2018major investment in the future\u2019 of the RCA, adding: \u2018With the renovation of our historic Kensington site, the RCA will once again operate from two central London campuses \u2013 Kensington and Battersea \u2013 bringing our community together with a new creative energy, driving cross-disciplinary exploration, with dynamic spaces to innovate, question and discover.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>According to the college, the project, though costing \u00a390 million, will generate \u2018longer-term savings through increased energy efficiency and consolidated campuses\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Witherford Watson Mann Architects won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2013 for Astley Castle, a project for the Landmark Trust which interwove a minimal new structure with the historic ruins of the castle.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Working with Clementine Blakemore Architects,\u00a0the practice \u2013 whose Appleby Blue Almshouse is shortlisted for this year\u2019s RIBA Stirling&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-188210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}