Westfield Student Village
Gallery
In Brief

Client:
Queen Mary, University of London

Location:
London

Construction value: 
£40,000,000

Completion:
September 2006

This scheme of 1,200 bed spaces in flats and maisonettes made Westfield Student Village the largest campus in London. The development provided two new public frontages for the University: one onto the Grand Union/Regent’s Canal alongside Mile End Park, the other against the railway track into Liverpool Street Station.

The design creates a series of spaces with distinct characters and levels of privacy. The long 8 storey building next to the railway protects the site from noise and aligns with a new college lawn opening onto the canal at its east end. The lower building with a café and bar at its base sits between the new pedestrian street and the canal, and is perforated to create views across to the park.

Half the accommodation is arranged in four storey brick buildings which line the west of the street, and form three private spaces: two U shaped courts, and one introverted wooded courtyard.

The final phase of 200 rooms was completed in September 2006. This building, Richard Feilden House, contains a cafeteria and student union fronting a new public square, establishing the connection between the student village and the university campus.

The detailed organisation of the buildings sought to offer as much variety as possible in room layouts (19 in total), to minimise any sense of institution, and avoid the all too frequent tendency for student housing to be cellular and repetitive.

Selected Awards

2009 Civic Trust Award: Commendation

2008
 RIBA National Award 

2008 RIBA Client of the Year Award: Shortlist

2006 Concrete Society Award: Commendation

2005 Housing Design Award: National Award

2005 Copper in Architecture Award: Joint winner

2005 TECU European Copper Award: Runner up

Quote Image
"The design excels in synthesising budgetary restrictions, a tight brownfield site and other constraints... even with the budgetary constraints of higher education, architecture of a high quality is possible for student dwellings"
Judges comment Copper in Architecture Awards 2005
Drawings
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