Fraser Brown MacKenna were commissioned by the Slade School of Fine Art to undertake the refurbishment and extension of the building. The priority was to provide new workspaces due to a surge in demand for student places. A new computer studies department was also required. Services needed to be upgraded throughout and the layout and circulation within the building needed rationalisation.

Heritage was another important strand to the design, as the buildings occupied by the Slade are part of UCL’s Bloomsbury Campus in Gower Street and are Grade I listed. They had last been refurbished in 1926.

Our proposals for the refurbishment and extension of the building had to be developed in consultation with Conservation Officers from Camden Council as well as Inspectors from English Heritage, who were initially concerned about potential damage to historic fabric. In addition to these restrictions, the constricted site meant the possibility for extending the building were limited.

The challenge of providing additional floorspace and improving circulation were achieved without causing damage to the fabric of the existing building or compromising its character through the introduction of mezzanine floors, resulting in a series of interventions which are designed to be reversible.

A continuous 5.2m wide mezzanine runs the length of the two lofty first floor painting studios, punching through the partition wall. Another mezzanine provides a second level in what was formerly the men’s life drawing studio. The mezzanines are supported on steel columns and beams, with particle board floors capable of taking a 5kN/m2 loading.

Simple steel and cable balustrading is finished in micaceous paint. In the theatre-design department on the top floor, we created additional space raising student intake from five to ten students each year by knocking three separate workshops into one large space, and adding a mezzanine which extends to the full length of the

building.

A new mezzanine in the administrative office on the ground floor is reached by a spiral stair. It supports a new glass fronted office and passageway through to the archivist’s office (formerly occupied by a water tank). Beyond this, a short bridge leads to the new archive department created by suspending a narrow mezzanine from the existing roof trusses. By moving all of these functions into mezzanines, space has been freed to create a new printing studio overlooking the quadrangle. As part of the project we were asked to create a new sculpture studio. Situated behind the main Slade Building the new extension is a crisp, contemporary structure with a curved metal roof and blockwork rendered walls. The doors are fully glazed and a large screen of glass blocks lines the eastern elevation.

The studio’s steel-framed structure sits lightly against the north wall of the main building, attached by short

cross beams, to limit interventions into the Grade I listed structure. A sloping patent-glazed rooflight provides a subtle junction between the old and new by separating the studio roof from the wall of the old building and

allowing natural light to wash down over the weathered brickwork.

Materials and sculpture can be brought in and out of the new building through a double-height lobby fitted with a hoist. An external stair links the mezzanine with the main building, but a separate entrance, opening on to the lane, allows the studio to be used as a self-contained unit and public viewing gallery.

By working closely with the client and English Heritage, we were able to substantially improve the academic environment at the Slade without interfering with the Grade I listed structure. The improvements made to the building contributed to the school achieving an improved academic rating, leading to higher income.