in collaboration with DHVANI DOSHI / HANZHANG LAI / YUNJI SEONG / SUREN SIVARAM
The UCL Institute of Education is a project designed by Denys Lasdun during the 1970s, which acts as a wall between the cityscape and the school campus. The form of the building creates an open plaza towards the campus and blocks off the busy city. By mirroring the plug-in ziggurats, a hierarchy is formed between the plazas. The institute also plays with the idea of typology. One can argue that this is not an institutional type but more of a housing type by observing the plan and its slab form. The classrooms face the city while the offices face the plaza. In terms of the construction, the materials used are comparable in which the light yet precise aluminum frame attached to the building’s facade contrasts with elements like the sculptural stairs which are composed of poured concrete.
