The new Central Saint Martins University campus in London by architecture practice Stanton Williams consists in the adoption of re-using and filling-in of the old Kings Cross Granary Building of Victorian decent.
Two new four-storey buildings provide studio blocks between the two 180 meters-long sheds, one of which now houses workshops.
Cycle stores are located in historic horse stables below this eastern shed, while shops and bars now occupy the ground floor of the western shed.
Four-storey-high concrete walls frame the main entrance to the college, which leads into an internal street with overhead bridges and an arched, clear plastic roof.
A performing arts centre located at the end of this street contains a 350-seat theatre for student performances.
The refurbished former granary now houses a library and faces a public square. The Granary Building itself has been restored as the main ‘front’ of the college, facing a new public square that steps down to the Regent’s Canal.
The building was designed in 1851 to receive grain from the wheat fields of Lincoln-
shire, unloaded here from railway wagons onto canal boats for onward transport to the capital’s bakeries. It comprises a solid, six-storey cubic mass, with an unadorned, 50-meters wide brick elevation, extended to 100-meters by office additions flanking the building.
To the north, located one to each side of the Granary Building, are two parallel 180 meters long Transit Sheds.
The design strategy retains the Granary Building, adapted to include functions such as the college’s library, while the Eastern Transit Shed behind is converted to create spectacular workshops for the college.
Within the street-level openings of the Western Transit Shed, new shops and bars will add further life to the area. The historic horse stables below the Eastern Transit Sheds have been transformed to new cycle stores for students and staff.

[project selected by Lorenzo Iandelli]