Saw Swee Hock Student Centre, LSE
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Dennis Gilbert Download Original
Red-brick students’ centre at the London School of Economics
The buidling stands on a trapezoid site more or less defined by surrounding buildings on three sides, and by Sheffield Street on the fourth. Its shape is determined by the stringent daylight requirements of their neighbours
Its main entrance is a porch, a triangle nicked out of the block of the building opposite where St Clement’s Lane meets Sheffield Street.It is covered by a steeply sloping and wood-framed glass canopy that rises over three floors, while the paving of the porch extends into the landscaped area of the pedestrianised Sheffield Street.
Two entrances open from the porch: the main one to a narrow entrance hall and the reception desk which leads directly to the wide and brightly lit staircase that winds round the lift shaft all the way up the building.
The secondary entrance leads to a ground-level ‘pub’ - also accessible from the reception area, and to a wide concrete circular staircase which goes down to an acoustically insulated nightclub.
Data
- Begun: May 2011
- Completed: Dec 2013
- Floor area: 6,101m2
- Sector: Education
- Total cost: £24.1M
- Address: Saw Swee Hock Student Centre, 1 Sheffield Street, London, WC2A 2AP, United Kingdom
Professional Team
- Architect: O'Donnell + Tuomey Architects
- Client: London School of Economics and Political Science, Estates Division
- Structural engineer: Dewhurst Macfarlane
- Structural engineer: Horganlynch Consulting Engineers
- Services engineer: ChapmanBDSP
- Fire consultant: Arup
- Acoustic consultant: Arup
- Security consultant: Arup
- Transport consultant: Arup
- Archaeological consultant: Gifford
- Project manager: Turner & Townsend
- Quantity surveyor: Northcroft
- Planning consultant: Turley Associates
- Main contractor: Geoffrey Osborne
Suppliers
- Bricks: Coleford Brick & Tile