Cass's new home revealed in London Met masterplan

London Met has released images of Design Engine’s proposed masterplan for its Holloway campus.

The scheme includes a new home for the Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture & Design which London Met wants to move from Aldgate, a decision which led to the resignation of Robert Mull as dean.

The north London campus will be centred on a courtyard around which will be arranged a café, theatre and performance spaces and teaching facilities.

The public will have access to some of the facilities and will be allowed to walk through the campus, linking it with surrounding streets.

Some low-rise buildings will be stripped away, with the retained buildings opened up to make the facilities more visible.

John Ridgett, director of Design Engine, said: “Through the extensive consultation process there was a common theme from staff and students of ‘reaching out and inviting’.

“The proposals have sought to better locate space across the campus to provide hubs of specialist facilities as well as a more legible environment. As part of the better connection into the urban realm it is proposed to make the campus far more permeable. 

“Part of this strategy is the creation of a significant new central courtyard open to the public.  The scheme works with the current buildings surrounding this central courtyard to extend and repurpose them as well as opening them up to create a new and varied street frontage. In doing so it provides the opportunity to celebrate the fantastic work that takes place at the university.”   

Andrew Stone, acting dean of the Cass, said: “The focus in the masterplan on re-energising the university’s relationship with Holloway Road is an appropriate approach.

“The importance of the university’s civic presence and the means by which the buildings and the activities within them offers something back to the city, back to its community, is vital. This was really emphasised at the crit with Design Engine at the Cass, and I’m pleased to see this reflected in the masterplan.”

The new campus will represent a “radical improvement” in the university’s learning environment and better reflect its ethos as a university for people of all backgrounds, said vice chancellor John Raftery.