In 2011 Walters & Cohen won an invited competition to design a new arts building for the American School in London.
Taking its cue from the mass and footprint of the listed, semi-detached villas on the site adjacent, the four-storey building is designed to resemble a single large property. The complexity of the project is heightened by its location on a prominent corner plot in the St John’s Wood conservation area, where proposed developments attract a lot of attention. We liaised with the school’s distinguished board of governors, ward councillors and local politicians, and presented the concept design in a three-day public exhibition. The scheme was extremely well received.
A range of materials for the external facades were researched and presented to the planners and governors, including recycled glass, stucco flutes and marble; stone was considered the most appropriate material on account of its elegance and traditional qualities. The resulting façade is a unique piece of design that draws on the timeless quality of stone, expressed in a truly contemporary manner. Light plays on the facade, flattening and disguising the flute pattern one minute, only to boldly express it in the next. The building has both an elegant lightness and a weight and gravitas; it is unique and contemporary yet effortlessly takes its place as an equal among its more mature neighbours.
The new building’s sculptural quality is fitting to the work that goes on inside. The ground floor provides exhibition space, with art, sculpture, ceramics and photography studios on the other three floors. An elegant concrete frame provides long span, column-free studio space at all levels, bringing in daylight from the north and south and creating a flexible, spacious and comfortable environment in which pupils can develop their art.
The building won a commendation at the Natural Stone Awards in 2016. It was shortlisted for the 2017 New London Awards and was a regional finalist for the Civic Trust Awards 2018.
