New Students' Centre (NSC), EC2A

Client: LSE, Estates Division

The New Student Centre will be the first new building at LSE for more than 40 years, providing nine floors of accommodation. These will include a venue, pub, café, activity space, media, Student Union Advice and Prayer Centre; residences accommodation, sales and marketing office, Student Union offices, gymnasium, careers service, exercise studio, juice bar, terraces and a public space. A carefully designed and crafted building made from a robust palette of natural materials provides the adaptability-in-use akin to a lived-in warehouse. The design is contemporary and inviting. Westminster City Council’s planning committee report called it ‘a design of exceptional quality providing a new focal hub for student life’