University of Westminster, Department of Communication, London, England
Designed as Lyons Israel Ellis Gray Architects, 1971
John Ellis Designer with John Cannon, Roger Mears, John McCain, Christopher Stevens
The University of Westminster Department of Communication on Little Titchfield Street is in a former Regent Street Polytechnic building on a tight site in London’s West End. The remodelled building contains new television and film studios and teaching spaces as well as preserving the existing gymnasium. A new white concrete shaft containing the main stairs and elevators is located on Riding House Street. This has the same architectural form as the stairs and mechanical shafts on the nearby College of Engineering and Science, thereby identifying the building as part of the larger campus. A secondary steel stair designed by John Ellis is inserted into a lightwell on the west end of the building.
The concrete elevator and staircase tower relates to similar forms on the nearby Cavendish campus.
Axonometric of the renovated building showing the two new stair towers inserted into the lightwells.
A new steel staircase inserted into a lightwell serving the various levels of the building.
