472 Royal College of Art Battersea Campus Opens to the Public

LONDON, UK – The Royal College of Art has opened the doors to its new Battersea campus, marking a critical point in its transformation into a STEAM-focused postgraduate university (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). The project hosted a media tour with Jacques Herzog, Ascan Mergenthaler (Senior Partner) and John O’Mara (UK Studio Director) showing the press around the buildings’ workshops, studio spaces and public Hangar – a double height, 350 sqm multifunctional activity space at the heart of the campus, with vast doors at each end to enable the installation of heavy, large, or complex works of art.

The RCA campus in Battersea is conceived as a porous and flexible ‘territory’ of platforms upon which the varied needs of the RCA curriculum are given space to change and grow, enabling the transformation of space as needed during this process. The studio and research buildings are designed as communities unto themselves – a place that encourages interactions between students, faculty and staff. Our intention is also to create a civic connector, encouraging circulation through the site and inviting exchange between members of the RCA community, the neighbourhood and wider city.

RCA PRESS RELEASE