When Kingston School of Art asked architects Haworth Tompkins to transform the Mill Street Building in the Knight’s Park campus, they immediately began by determining the physical demands required of an upgrade by considering what the students needed from their building.

Mill Street, named in honour of the mills once occupying the site, houses a wide range of creative courses. Filmmaking, photography, furniture design and architecture require a huge amount of kit and a great deal of space.

The existing 1970s building provided 10,000sqm of floor space but it wasn’t being used effectively. A significant proportion of the redesign was devoted to untangling how space was being used and re-thinking how it could work more efficiently. The re-design also needed to improve the structure’s environmental performance.

The architects identified the best characteristics of the existing site, embracing the robust and industrial elements such as its raw brick, steel and concrete shell– which remained in good condition. Retaining these elements helped to keep the equivalent of around 1.5 million kilograms of embodied CO2 locked-up, when compared with a demolish and build alternative. Hi-tech glazing has increased insulation and the building's heating and ventilation systems have been completely replaced.

Inside, they opened up the space, maximising natural light and creating flexibility and adaptability. Redundant plant spaces were repurposed, and the existing lift and stair cores were extended, revealing previously inaccessible areas that were turned into architecture studios. Sloped glazing was introduced to previously blank areas of the north façade, providing quality natural light to north-facing studios and opening up views across Kingston.

Weathered steel window surrounds support solar shading and provide a warm patina that compliments the red and orange tones of the retained brickwork. Large expanses of flat roofs have been brought to life with green roofs that will become valuable outdoor amenity spaces for staff and students.

A core infrastructure of pinboard walls, exposed service grids, suspended power modules, data points, and pivoting walls, encourages flexible use and allow the building to adapt to changing needs without the need for wasteful re-planning. On the riverfront side there is now an outdoor gallery and stone workshop.

At the heart of the upgrade are the state-of-the-art facilities for ceramics, photography, film production, woodwork, metalwork, plaster, printmaking, letterpress and digital hack. The workshops hold almost 200 individual machines, while a double height space allows students to work at a scale that would have been difficult previously.

The result is a world-class learning facility for practice-based learning. Courses with natural symbiosis can now collaborate more easily in the workshops and studios, encouraging creative exploration and sharing of ideas. All of which support the School’s underlying ethos of thinking through making.

Client Kingston University
Address Kingston School of Art, Knights Park, Kingston KT1 2QJ
Project Start Date July 2016
Completion Date November 2019 (official opening January 2020)
Project Value £29,000,000
Gross Internal Area 10,000 m2
BREEAM rating Outstanding
The project will deliver a 52 percent reduction in operational carbon emissions. Fabric enhancements included replacing patent glazing with a new high-performance glazing system, increased insulation and airtightness and the complete replacement of 50-year-old heating and ventilation systems.
Open Access 3D Workshops: Woodwork, Metalwork, Welding, Foundry, Ceramics, Plaster, Digital Hack, Big Build, Resins & Plastics, Finishing, Stonework,
Shared 2D Workshops: Photography, Moving Image, Digital Media Workshop, Motion Capture, Printmaking, Letterpress