SOMERSET HOUSE AND MAKERVERSITY – THE NEW LSA CAMPUS

A painting of Somerset House by Edward Dayes in 1788, from the collection of the Courtauld Gallery, the LSA’s new neighbours

The London School of Architecture now has a permanent base at Somerset House and continues to use the city as its campus, with our programme being hosted by Spatial Partners in our Practice Network

From October 2016, the London School of Architecture will be housed at Somerset House, the Grade 1-Listed arts and cultural destination on the Strand, overlooking the River Thames.

Our new base immerses the school into a thriving creative cauldron, which is not only a destination for cultural experiences, but also a site of cultural production. Somerset House is home to the largest and most diverse collection of creative organisations, freelancers, artists, makers and thinkers in London. Our Fellow residents include the Courtauld Institute of Art, the British Fashion Council, Enterprise Nation, London Economics, the Culture Capital Exchange, the Sorrell Foundation, and the Royal Society of Literature.

At the end of studio day at Somerset House

Alan Powers talking on design methodologies

Design review of Second Year projects at Scott Brownrigg

The LSA occupies a lovely bright studio on the Second Floor of the New Wing, where our core faculty and Second Year students are based. The space has good Wi-Fi, a super-speedy Toshiba printer, a 55-inch flat-screen television, three large openable windows, and two charming marble fireplaces. We can also use other communal areas, including kitchens, meeting rooms, and public areas such as the river terrace and courtyard.

As well as our institutional neighbours, we benefit from the adjacency of Somerset House Studios, a new experimental workspace connecting around 300 artists, makers and thinkers to create a platform for the development of projects and collaboration, promoting work that pushes bold ideas, engages with urgent issues and pioneers new technologies.

Makerversity, a community facility for maker businesses, is housed in the basement of Somerset House

The Studios are also home to Makerversity, Europe’s most exciting community of emergent makers, to which the LSA has an institutional membership for our Second Year students. Based in the basement, it provides access to an unrivalled range of studio, event and fabrication spaces and prototyping tools.

These two relationships bring the LSA into the heart of the capital city and initiate us into an existing community of cultural enterprises and individuals. We look forward to the rich and rewarding exchanges that may arise at our new home.

Elsewhere in the capital, we are hosting our taught programme within our treasured Practice Network. We are incredibly grateful to our Spatial Partners:

• Alan Baxter
• Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
• Allies and Morrison
• DSDHA
• Farrells
• Grimshaw
• HOK
• Karakusevic Carson
• Mikhail Riches
• NBBJ
• PDP London
• Robin Partington
• Scott Brownrigg
• Studio Egret West

Martyn Evans talking about ethical development at Alan Baxter’s office

Second Years presenting Design Think Tank Projects to First Years at Allies and Morrison