Who We Are

The London School of Architecture (LSA) is a specialist school within the University of the Built Environment. It offers an ambitious and distinctive model of architectural education centred on collaboration, accessibility and engagement with contemporary social, environmental and urban challenges.  

Established to widen participation in the profession, The LSA is a community of educators, practitioners and students, integrating learning and employment while developing the skills, knowledge and professional judgement required for practice. Our teaching emphasises design excellence, critical thinking, sustainability and civic responsibility, fostering architects who are equipped not only to create buildings, but also to contribute positively to the communities, cities, society and the profession they serve. 

Students are encouraged to test ideas and challenge convention through disruptive innovations that engage with five core principles: 

Widening access – We are committed to extending opportunities and reducing barriers to our profession. By being the only school of architecture in the country to embed paid practice experience within a full-time MArch programme, we make studying more affordable and empower our students to be impactful within professional practice. 

Climate and social justice – We educate and equip a new generation of practitioners to address the climate emergency and rampant inequity in our collective life. 

Architecture for all – We believe architecture and design to be the primary tools through which delight, opportunity, wellbeing and sustainability may benefit all people; elevating our collective experience of everyday life in extraordinary ways.  

Strategic agency – We teach students to navigate and create the social, cultural, economic and political conditions in which good architecture becomes possible.   

Learning through making – We champion the importance of understanding why and how things are made. Through drawing, modelling, testing and building, students explore how ideas about form, space, material, composition and visual language become real.  

Story 

The LSA was founded as the first independent school of architecture in England since 1847 and welcomed its first cohort of students in October 2015. Our foundational mission was to focus on a commitment to access, equity, affordability and the provision of an architectural education that addresses the multiple challenges facing people and planet. 

The school entered a new chapter in May 2025, following a merger with the University of the Built Environment. As part of this new relationship, the LSA retains its name and continues to operate with its own distinctive identity, as part of the University. 

Today, we build on our legacy with an expanded offering of innovative and ambitious programmes, including Part 0, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. As a specialist school within the University of the Built Environment, we are also able to draw on a range of cross-disciplinary opportunities and expertise from across the built environment sector.   

Studio campus

The LSA was deliberately itinerant in its first decade, finding its home in locations across London, including Somerset House, Soho, Mare Street and Orsman Road, before settling in our studio campus on Beechwood Road, Dalston.   

Our Studio on Beechwood Road amounts to just over 5,000 sq ft, offering a main studio space, a seminar room, a workshop and other smaller mixed-use offices across four floors.   

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