Kingston University threw open its doors in the virtual realm as part of Open House 2020 – a festival celebrating London’s most striking architecture.
The University’s flagship Town House building and Kingston School of Art’s newly-renovated Mill Street Building at Knights Park were showcased through free virtual tours on 19 and 20 September.
Both buildings are among this year’s finalists for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) annual awards for the London region and are shortlisted in the New London Awards 2020, in association with the Mayor of London.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Steven Spier, an academic expert in architecture, said: “Town House is an innovative building that provides a welcoming place to be on campus for students and opens up the university to the wider community. It has a real presence in the borough and softens the threshold between us and the borough, allowing far greater opportunities for collaboration between the university, local residents and businesses.”
Designed by RIBA Gold Medal-winning firm Grafton Architects, the multi-million pound Town House in Penrhyn Road has a three-floor library, dance studios, studio theatre, and a courtyard in the centre. An open staircase weaves through the building, right up to the sixth-floor rooftop garden that offers stunning views across Kingston.
Redesigned by award-winning architects Haworth Tompkins, the Mill Street Building at the university’s Knights Park campus has transformed workshops and studios for the next generation of designers, photographers and architects at Kingston School of Art.
Professor of Architecture, Andrew Clancy, said: “Built in 1975 for art and design purposes, the Mill Street Building is at the heart of the campus and very much a part of the urban landscape in Kingston. The ambitious redesign has created a more sustainable structure for the future and enabled us to refurbish and re-organise our existing workshops, which were already recognised as world class.
“We look forward to opening these state-of-the-art facilities for everyone with an interest in architecture or art and design education to see.”