Working with LSE

22/06/2021

The team has been appointed to carry out a space audit, of the LSE Campus, leading to an update of the 2013 Public Realm Strategy.

In parallel, an additional exploratory piece on visioning work is being carried out to develop an ambitious plan for further development of the public realm in and around the streets and squares that constitute the London School of Economics and Political Science, between Lincolns Inn Fields and the Strand.

This work builds on the Masterplanning and Urbanism work of the practice, looking at the civic role of the University as a place for students and academics, to thrive. Capturing the ambition of this work is an excerpt from the chapter on Masterplanning for the RIBA's book 'Future Campus' from 2016, that Rupert co-authored with Prof Philip E. Ogden:

The university sector continues on a journey from inward ‘village’, through ‘ivory tower’ and the glorious isolation of the elite, towards the joint aims of broader access and raising achievement. This has meant huge growth in the sector, opening up higher education while to some degree maintaining an idea of retreat from normal life to reflect and grow through learning and research.

Universities, as complex institutions, increasingly play a crucial role in their local, national and international environments in terms of economic and cultural, as well as educational, leadership. This is the task for a masterplan: to plan for this change.