A team led by Dutch architect UNStudio has won a design competition for an extension to the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in Epsom, Surrey, UK.
UNStudio worked with John Robertson Architects as a design partner, Grant Associates as landscape architect, Atelier Ten as building services engineer and AKT II as structure and facade engineer.
The team was picked from a shortlist that included Wilkinson Eyre, Haworth Tompkins, Hall McKnight and Tate Harmer.
UNStudio said the design for a 3,735 sq m extension for the Business School for the Creative Industries at UCA Epsom was modelled on the concept of a "salon of the enlightenment".
The development will host undergraduate and post-graduate programmes, and encourage "interaction and collaboration throughout the campus and to blur the hierarchical boundary between faculty and students".
Ben van Berkel, UNStudio founder, said: "Salons provided fascinating opportunities for debate for intellectuals from all walks of life. Artists, scientists, philosophers, politicians: they all gathered to debate the concerns of their time, cross-fertilising and mutually influencing each other’s ideas along the way.
"Facilitating such exchange of ideas forms the core of the design for the Business School."
Images courtesy of UNStudio
