CSM Time 7 - King's Cross special by Central Saint Martins

CSM Time 4 KX

Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cross Special issue

Kings Place Festival 2010 September 9–12 100 concerts in 4 days Music, Spoken Word & Visual Art

Back to the Future Next summer 2011 we move to our new home in King’s Cross, London. In this special edition of our termly newspaper CSM Time, we invite students, staff and friends of the College to look ahead with us as the final countdown begins. At King’s Cross, Central Saint Martins will carry the best of our history and values into a new era of arts education. The design of our new campus allows us to re-imagine how we teach the art, design and performance students of the future. On 1 August 2011, following completion of our fit-out schedule, the new building will be handed over to us and our move presses ahead in the run-up to autumn term 2011. For our students these are exciting moments on an exciting journey. For our staff – well, keep calm and remember we won’t be doing this again for at least another 100 years or so! In this special issue of CSM Time we take you on a voyage in time and space. Resident features editor Drusilla Beyfus opens a window on the design and build of our new home (see p4). As well as introducing you to our future neighbours (see p18), we showcase student projects set in and around our King’s Cross site (see p22). We also answer your FAQs about our historic move (see p26). Throughout the coming year we’ll keep you abreast of news, events and developments relating to King’s Cross both in the pages of CSM Time and online at our KX blog. Here’s to our future!

Medieval hip hop, sculptures by David Bailey, artwork from the Antarctic, and the Junk Band with their instruments made of rubbish, are just some of the surprises in store. Celebrating the second anniversary of the Kings Place opening, this weekend-long event showcases the wealth of cultural and social opportunity that the space offers year-round. The Third Kings Place Festival features: Behind the Scenes at the Guardian; comedy from Tom Basden; Jenny Éclair; Rob Deering; the best in new poetry from Poet in the City, and the chance to sample emerging talent from Manchester and Bristol, from Arctic Circle … and much, much more!

all Tickets only £4.50 online + loads of free events www.kingsplace.co.uk

CSM Time is produced by Marketing and Communications editor@csm.arts.ac.uk in association with Rhombus Writers, and designed by Paulus M Dreibholz (alumnus and associate lecturer) and Emma Williams. With thanks to Drusilla Beyfus, Seamus Mirodan and Rena Valeh. © 2010 Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design unless otherwise indicated. We have made all efforts to credit images correctly. Please contact us if we have omitted to credit or miscredited an image – amendments will be made in subsequent issues.

+ Our new home (4) + King’s Cross Gallery (6) + One year and counting (8) + King’s cross Projects (11) + King’s cross News (12) + Performance at King’s cross (14) + Private Collection (16) + Meet the Neighbours (18) + Open For Business (20) + King’s cross student projects (22) + Widening participation at KX (24) + King’s cross FAQs (26) + Coming soon (27)

CSM Time 4 KX special issue Find out more about King’s Cross, visit the KX blogs: www.csm. arts.ac.uk/snapshot/category/ kings-cross and www.csm.arts. ac.uk/kingscross

Our new home

c s m t i m e f o r K i n g ’ s C r o s s

Drusilla Beyfus takes a guided tour and reports on progress on the ground

I wondered how the projected numbers of students and staff would be fitted in? He replied ‘there will be far less wasted space’, no more duplication of studios and services. The system would depend on ‘bookable’ rooms, an efficient method adopted by largescale clients they had worked for where space was at a premium. And they are retaining Byam Shaw’s Archway campus.

Artist impression of Granary Square, King’s Cross. Courtesy of Anderson-Terzic

‘We have tried to keep the space as fluid as possible and to allow staff to understand how their working methods and teaching practices could be changed by the possibilities offered by this new space.’

Granary and Eastern office building – front view of our campus

‘The building is effectively a warehouse … with floors and high ceilings, that allows the College to develop over time,’ he said. He recalled that Jane Rapley, Head of College, had hoped that the building would ‘morph’ into forms that could be adapted to tomorrow’s needs. She had said early on in the planning, ‘… this is an experiment that allows us to reinvent ourselves in the way we work’. He added, ‘… that reinvention means there has to be an understanding among the staff from day one to accept change and to wait to see what has to be done in order to allow the morphing to take place.’

My recent visit to the Central Saint Martins campus at King’s Cross was a great opportunity to see how the vision glimpsed in scale models and plans was shaping up on the ground. My guide was one of the master planners, architect Paul Williams of Stanton Williams, the practice that in 2001, won the international competition to design the campus. I had interviewed him previously at their HQ in Islington. Williams characterised the architecture of the campus. ‘It’s not endeavouring to be an office building, nor is it a city building. It needs to have an edge and a rawness.’ The approach has been to meld a rich industrial heritage with 21st century concepts in architecture and design. Three main structural components tell the story: the Grade 2 listed Granary building in brick, cast iron and timber built in 1852 by Lewis Cubitt (younger brother of Thomas Cubitt); the 19th century Eastern Transit Shed, also built by Cubitt, and a brand new construction in exposed concrete, steel and glass. Two-thirds of the total construction is rebuilt, one-third is original. The overall cost of the fabric of the build and the fit-out is in the region of £120 million.

Old meets new. The East Transit Shed meets the East studio

Original feature from The Granary building

Glazing on cantilevered elevation of the performance studios

Some interesting facts emerged about the background to the scheme. If the development at Holborn had gone ahead following the winning solution at the international competition in 2001, the developed building would have been a vertical structure some 10/11 storeys high, in other words a mini skyscraper. He explained the listed industrial structures define the parameters for the height of the new development, and these were of a scope to allow the architects to put up the present building, whose main body is only four storeys high. In Williams’ view, a vertical building for an art college would be far less practical and functional for the college to have inhabited.

I was keen to hear from him how the campus would work in practice. He said, ‘We have had to ask ourselves, is this a student experience or a staff experience? In an art college, surely it has to be the students.’

We looked at some of the facilities: an adaptable lecture theatre for 400 people; seminar spaces; flexible performance, rehearsal and exhibition areas; a main theatre that accommodates over 300 people; a 100-seat studio theatre; a library; a museum and gallery. He singled out the glazing on the cantilevered elevation of the new performance studios that would be ‘… absolutely gorgeous, stunning.’ Being translucent, it reflects the shadowy forms of the dancers and actors that can be glimpsed from outside.

Communication between people had been a mantra. Studios, workshops and IT departments were located to encourage fusion between the disciplines – fashion was adjacent to graphics for example. They had built in many social spaces ‘… where people can chill out and connect,’ he said, including a canteen, cafes, and a foyer bar. Public access to the southern end of the Granary building complex was the policy of the College as well as that of Argent, the King’s Cross property developer which is engaged in regenerating the whole area.

A top-lit main street divides the heart of the construction, running from north to south. Covered in ETFE , a material known for its light transmission properties, the flexible design means the Street could function as a meeting place and an exhibition area. Over-arched by five-metre wide bridges that connect the various levels with the art studios and other amenities, the whole layout has an open feel, the antithesis of a system of corridors, closed doors and shut-off small spaces. Yet a sense of history has been retained. ‘The way we have refurbished the old buildings is to keep as many of the pulley systems, harnesses, and winches as we could. When you walk through the building, you will be able to understand how it was used in 1851,’ he said.

Few doubts hover over the likely impact of the College on the neighbourhood. Williams says that it stands to inject a vibrant cultural force. Similarly, Richard Meier, Argent’s Project Director, told me, ‘Argent believes it (CSM ) is an anchor in the overall rejuvenation of King’s Cross. Not only because it is slap bang in the middle of the most important and historic fabric of the site, but more importantly, Central Saint Martins will help to revitalise an area that previously had been neglected and gone quiet.’ Last word from Paul Williams. ‘There was nowhere else of this ambitious scale left in central London that could be developed in this way.’ Stop press. Stanton Williams has won the international competition to design King’s Cross Square at King’s Cross. At 7,000 square metres, it’s one of largest of its kind in London.

King’s Cross Gallery

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John Sturrock, official photographer at King’s Cross, has been documenting our site as it develops. Here’s John’s snapshot of life on planet KX. To view more of his images visit: www.kingscrosscentral.com/gallery

One year and King’s Cross counting

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‘It’s important we have a structure in place to underpin the fluid way people think and work here’

With just one year to go, CSM Time spoke to the KX Project Office team about nooks, crannies, movable walls and wow factors

The team’s favourite images of our new home

Flexible Thinking Today our focus is on gaining a thorough understanding of our fixtures and fittings, which machines we’re moving from the workshops, how many power points and data points we need, where to mount our digital screens, and the kind of audio-visual installations we want for our teaching spaces. Then there’s the whole issue of what we can and can’t afford!

something more solid that might stay in addition to this highly mechanised space we position for weeks. So the walls are an will have an online Interface to the building example of how we need a flexible approach. and its resources which will provide great services for students and staff alike. We already have many disciplines under one roof, but the reality of cross-fertilisation It’s about booking facilities and resources at King’s Cross isn’t just about the studio online; about the security aspects of the right – it’s about what happens on the stairs and students accessing the right things; about bridges, and in the canteen and bar. And it cashless payment, and a host of other issues will happen much more readily at our new to do with living in the virtual space within home because we’re creating bigger social our building, the university and the wider spaces. The reduction in course owned studio world. It’s a different conceptual model. And space will be offset by increased access we want to introduce staff and students alike to the new project and studio spaces and the to the fantastic opportunities it opens up. advantages of working more closely with other students. This is where the excitement Malcolm Johnston, Head of Academic Environment of the building will come from.

My job is to make sure everyone’s voice is heard. As to how we make a difference, it comes down to understanding what our courses are trying to achieve. The College made an early decision to retain or expand workshop facilities because it’s important we offer students what they can’t get elsewhere. I know some colleagues are worried about That decision required challenging solutions. moving into a brand new building with concrete floors and walls, essentially an The open plan design offers the greatest industrial space without those nooks and flexibility, yet a fundamental concern among crannies just waiting to be filled with an staff is the issue of acoustics and how to installation. I’m sure that within three separate one group from another. In design- weeks of moving in our new site will look based areas, where we need to pull groups thoroughly lived in and everyone will feel of students together several times each day, at home! we needed a form of movable wall or partition that could be reconfigured quickly For me, the project is an exciting and easily. That requirement has led us opportunity to influence technologies that to a conceptual design for a standard unit will shape the future of the College. that can be stacked and moved. For art, Our King’s Cross home isn’t just a physical on the other hand, the movable wall means entity with power and ventilation. In

Shared Space

a light touch

Negotiating skills

Currently, most courses have their own space so they can decide on their own timetable without worrying about what others are up to. But with more shared space at King’s Cross, we’ll have to collaborate more effectively.

The creative nature of what colleagues do here means things can sometimes be ‘last minute’. Although we have to put processes in place in order to deliver the project, we also have to have a light touch – and to keep our nerve.

I support Matt and Malcolm in managing the design process and in planning and delivering our move, as well as co-ordinating several related projects including the ICT strategy and KX graphic identity project.

At the moment, everyone designs their own timetable in their own way using Word, Excel or Google. Sharing space means a uniform approach to timetabling. Therefore, we’re introducing dedicated timetabling software – Celcat Timetabler – and training everyone to use it.

Doing things at the last minute is how creative people operate. It keeps your options open until you have to close them down. For us, it means managing the project in a systematic but not dogmatic way. Being able to be opportunistic is an important part of how the college works.

It’s a shift, but it will remind colleagues we have to do things differently in the spaces we’re creating. The new software can generate an individual timetable for each student. Students can find out what they’re doing, where they’ll be, at what time and with which tutor – all online.

Would you start from here? Would you build a new landmark campus and reorganise the College and change work practices against the backdrop of the worst downturn in memory? Right! So flexibility is our watchword. Although the challenge looms larger under these circumstances, the excitement is greater. Hopefully, the achievements will seem greater too.

This addresses concerns our students have voiced. While meeting the imperatives of the new space, it’s about improving the student What are my hopes for King’s Cross? I want experience, and our colleagues welcome that. to come back in ten years and see that staff and students have settled down in a building Jenny Chittenden, College Infrastructure that works for them. Co-ordinator Matthew Barrett, King’s Cross Project Co-ordinator

Negotiating skills are essential. On one side we’re working closely with the university to control the budget and make sure the building opens on time. On the other we’ve got colleagues who really want to make their new spaces the best they can possibly be. Managing those expectations and finding compromises can be quite a challenge! For me, the project is a great opportunity to work in a highly creative environment. Taking people to the point where they feel comfortable at King’s Cross and are able to work with systems that support their success will be the real achievement. I wish we were able to get more colleagues on site more quickly because I think it would go a long way towards allaying some of the doubts and misconceptions about the new building. I think there’s going to be a big ‘wow’ on day one when we move in. Ed Corbett, King’s Cross Project Administrator

King’s Cross The winning mix Projects

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Historic Move I’m working on the huge database of equipment, existing and new, for the new building at King’s Cross. Thousands of items have been revisited and recorded, from tables and chairs to massive pieces of technical kit. Right now, we’re looking at calculating costs for what new items need to be bought, although much can be cleaned up or refurbished and then installed at the new site. Then there’s the stuff that is just so ancient I don’t know if you could possibly move it! The database will see us into the new building and help with the transfer of equipment once we’re there. So it’s an ongoing and hopefully very beneficial tool.

A six-strong student team drawn from four CSM courses has won our King’s Cross building graphic identity competition.

I’m not sure people have quite grasped the scale of this project yet. The size and scale of both the building and the project is is breathtaking and I’m very proud to be involved in this historic move.

The winning team, Group 4+14, is made up of Jack Cardno (BAASO ), Lourina Botha and Lena Kramer (MACPNE ), Ivo Federspiel and Ricardo Toledo (MACD ), and Jess Morgan (BAGD ). Ed Cornish, from Group 10, has been invited to join the winning team because the judging panel was impressed by his strong graphic concepts and excellent typography.

Emily Evison, Asset Administrator

DID YOU KNOW?

For the second and final stage of the competition, shortlisted teams made a halfhour presentation to judges, including a 15-minute Q &A session with the advisory panel.

The Street space within our new building is about two-thirds the height, width and length of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. The building was once home to over 150 horses stabled under the transit shed. At its height, the site employed more than 1,500 workhorses.

‘Wayfinding isn’t just about finding the fastest route to where you want to go,’ say the winners, ‘but also about embarking on a journey of discovery.

The Granary Square fountains have 1120 water jets that use recycled rainwater and are powered by solar energy.

‘The incredible diversity of disciplines and talents coming together at our new site is exciting and challenging. It’s important to create a space that motivates people to mix while maintaining their own identity.’

Energy consumption and carbon emissions have been addressed during both design and construction phases to meet modern standards of energy efficiency including: lighting systems with movement detectors and dimming technologies; FSC certified timber where possible; energy efficient ventilation systems which use the natural buoyancy of the warm air; rainwater harvesting for toilets, irrigation and the Granary Square fountains; Photovoltaic solar panels; low water consumption toilets; taps with automatic leak detection and ample bike storage for staff and students.

KX KEY DATES 2011 February: Basebuild completed March: Fit-out begins April: School of Performance created May: ‘Soft launch’ to key partners and alumni July: Fit-out completed August: Move-in begins September: New academic year November: KX official launch festival

Functional signage within the winning proposal includes hanging symbols, landmark objects, directional signs and departmental signs. Technical details include seating in the form of giant extruded lettering, assemblages of reclaimed furniture, an ice cream van with data screens, and movable screens with peepholes for meeting areas.

Judges congratulated entrants on the calibre of their proposals and thanked them for their hard work and enthusiasm. Architects, Pringle Brandon, will now begin to develop the winning proposal for implementation within our fit-out schedule. Judges: Simon Bone (Associate Interior Designer, Pringle Brandon), Morag Myerscough (Designer, Studio Myerscough), Jane Rapley (Head of College, CSM), Lee Widdows (Director of Marketing & Communication, CSM), Paul Williams (Director, Stanton Williams Architects), Millie Findlay and Lizzie Rose (Students’ Union VPs, CSM) Advisory panel: Tricia Austin (Course Director, MA Creative Practice for Narrative Environments), Phil Baines (Professor of Typography), Lynda Brockbank (Designer, Crescent Lodge), Phil Crew (Head of Projects, UAL), Malcolm Johnston (Head of Academic Environment, CSM), Alex Lumley (Associate Dean, School of Art), Geoff Makstutis (Course Director, BA Architecture: Spaces and Objects), Benjamin Reichen (Designer, Åbäke), Rebecca Ross (Senior Lecturer, School of Graphic and Industrial Design), Dani Salvadori, (Director Enterprise and Innovation, CSM), Dee Searle (Interim Director of Communication and Development), Patrick Swindell (Designer)

For more KX student projects see p22

King’s Cross news

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ON TRACK WITH JARVIS Six Central Saint Martins students joined alumnus Jarvis Cocker for a cultural happening at St Pancras station, home to Eurostar rail services, in April. The former Pulp frontman is ambassador at large for the Eurostar initiative ‘Culture Connect’. Equipped with easels and canvases, the students were invited to create an image of Eurostar destinations – London, Paris or Brussels. As the cameras rolled, Jarvis talked up the value of Europe’s distinctive art heritage and chatted to our students.

TOP OF THE WORLD 22 April 2010. In bright, spring sunshine, main contractor BAM Construct UK held an official topping out ceremony on the roof of our new building.

The story featured on BBC , ITV and Channel 4 News, and popped up on the blogs. Taking part were graphics student Rebecca Hendjin, who discussed a commission to illustrate Eurostar’s Metropolitan magazine, fine art students Elle Barreau, Michael Cheah and Yinjie Sun, and foundation students Mia Faithfull and Jil Madenga.

The event, attended by UAL Rector Nigel Carrington, staff, friends of the College, key partners, contractors and sub-contractors, marked the completion of the building’s concrete frame. New CSM topped out by Nigel Carrington

Alumnus Jarvis Cocker chats with graphics and fine art students

ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL

KX ART REGENERATION As the developers of King’s Cross Central, the 67 acre mixed-use development of which CSM/UAL will be part, Argent are committed to supporting high quality creativity, arts and culture. The aim is to create a destination for the arts by supporting artists and organisations working across a range of mediums. Argent have already started by hosting ArtAngel; Sadler's Wells; London Sinfonietta; Richard Sharples; Minnie Weisz and others in buildings and spaces at King’s Cross Central, as well as commissioning works and developing an artist-in-residence programme. Under the direction of their arts advisory panel, Argent are just about to commission a curator for a three year period to build on work to date, and create a bigger, more ambitious programme.

A CSM alumna’s fine art project will build archaeological bridges across time and space. CSM fine art graduate Laura Wilson, has achieved the aim of her project. An original clay brick from a 17th century Benedictine abbey in Belgium has been incorporated into the fabric of our landmark building at King’s Cross.

The Belgian brick is part of a ‘brick exchange’, a project devised by Laura as an enquiry into the status of buildings and The 17th Century Benedictine Monastery Brick embedded at CSM their materials over time. Construction, demolition and re-use of building elements can create a cyclical pattern across centuries, Now, with the inclusion of the abbey’s clay brick in our new home, the story comes full she says. circle. On the site of the dismantled abbey, Laura Laura’s idea engages directly with the worked with a Belgian archaeological museum and local craftsmen, using original traditions and rituals associated with major new buildings, from their beginnings in bricks to create a site-specific sculptural foundation-laying, to the celebration of their work on the old abbey foundations. The ‘topping out’ with the last brick or block. sculpture uses historical mortars and bricklaying techniques, and incorporates an original 19th century brick taken from CSM ’s Charing Cross Road building.

CSM ’s King’s Cross development invigorates a site of notable architectural heritage, recycling its industrial connections while upholding its aesthetic and historical value. Against this background, Laura’s project celebrates the ongoing role and function of the humble brick, creating an iconic footnote to a grand architectural endeavour.

With the inclusion of the abbey’s clay brick in our new home, the story comes full circle

Artist Ellie Reid

Performance at King’s Cross

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Seamus Mirodan looks forward to a new era

Architects visual for 350 seat theatre

Our move to a single campus at King’s Cross will coincide with the creation of a new School of Performance. The change will bring our long-established Performance Design and Practice courses, Drama Centre London, the London Studio Centre, the BA /MA in Criticism, Curation and Communication, and the MA in Character Animation together for the first time. The advent of a School of Performance offers an unprecedented, formal recognition that performance, as a discipline distinct from art and design, is a legitimate constituent part of the provision of both College and University. It also brings important benefits. Says Course Director, BA (Honours) Performance Design and Practice, Michael Spencer: ‘Siting all College disciplines under

Flytower in the main theatre

one roof is enormously beneficial to the discipline of performance, which in the past two decades has expanded its remit to encompass contexts way beyond the traditional theatre base. Close proximity to fine artists, fashion designers, graphic designers and others will place students and staff in a unique position to explore new directions and parameters for theatre and performance.’ With everyone now working out of the King’s Cross site, courses will be able to use spaces appropriate to their particular needs, wherever these are situated in the building. The School of Performance will also mean that tutors from different courses will see each other more often. There will be a common leadership which will encourage new developments, in particular at postgraduate and research levels.

The new structure offers exciting oppor tunities for cross-disciplinary development as a result of the free flow of ideas and initiatives among members of staff and students. They will now be part of a single academic unit, led by a new Dean of Performance. The new School of Performance will also have responsibility for the management of the two new theatres at King’s Cross. ‘It’s a real opportunity to understand the interactive benefits of collaboration and to find a greater integrity in the work,’ says Course Director, MA Screen: Acting, Directing, Writing (DCL), Alan Dunnett.

Close proximity to fine artists, fashion designers, graphic designers and others will place students and staff in a unique position to explore new directions and parameters for theatre and performance

Private collection

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In an intimate aside to our historic move, College Infrastructure Co-ordinator Jenny Chittenden turns her lens on assets and apparatus, and finds beauty in unlikely places

Blocking out stump

HIDDEN CHARMS The brief to myself for this project is to photograph and catalogue every movable asset in every existing CSM workshop, from lathes to looms and tables to trolleys. The project has a practical basis. I’m recording many details, including size and manufacturer, so the removal men can be certain they’re moving the correct item. A photograph will be worth a thousand words. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself, poking around in the hidden corners of the College, and discovering pieces of equipment that are beautiful works of art in their own right.

Relief press

Much of this equipment has served generations of CSM students. Every paint splash has its own story, and as photographing pattern and detail is a personal passion, I’ve captured some of these splashes on my travels. The photographs will form part of the online King’s Cross Asset and Space database. You can view a further selection via the photos link on our King’s Cross blog.

Wood workshop

Back Hill white space

Wood workshop

Jewelry workshop

Wood workshop

Screen-printing bench

Paint mixing pot

Knit workshop

To share your private collection about our current buildings or to post work on our CSM blog, please contact Colin Buttimer c.buttimer@csm.arts.ac.uk.

As a collection in a wider sense, the pictures offer a snapshot of the College as it is now, poised between one world and another. Jenny Chittenden is a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society. www.csm.arts.ac.uk/kingscross/project-overview/photo-gallery

My favourite item has to be the blocking-out stump in jewellery, which is a large cross-section of tree trunk.

Meet The neighbours

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Today’s King’s Cross is firmly on the cultural and creative map. Here’s an introduction of some of our neighbours and what we’re doing with them

NEW HORIZON YOUTH CENTRE Somers Town in King’s Cross is home to New Horizon Youth Centre, a day centre working with over 3,000 local young people every year. Through our widening participation programme, Central Saint Martins supports the Centre’s aim of helping to turn young lives around. (see p24).

THE GUARDIAN In 2008 the Guardian and its Sunday sibling The Observer relocated to Kings Place from Farringdon Road, where they had lived since 1976. Some say the papers’ presence in Clerkenwell helped to make it the creative hotspot it is today, and it looks as if the same process is underway at King’s Cross. Central Saint Martins is already in discussion with the Guardian, and we hopefully look forward to exciting things happening after our move. We'll keep you posted.

WELLCOME TRUST A global charity without political or commercial affiliation, the Wellcome Trust works to engage the public with science, and to apply research to improving human health. In our latest collaboration with the Wellcome, students from MACPNE and MAID at Central Saint Martins developed concepts for interactive exercise booths to coincide with the 2012 Olympics. (see p22).

BRITISH LIBRARY

CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS College of Art and Design – new home

The much-loved ‘home of the world’s knowledge’ was host to the ‘Magnificent Map of King’s Cross’ project, to which student illustrators at Central Saint Martins contributed (see p23). The venerable institution also features in our ‘Rough Guide to KX ’ as an ideal breakfast choice after a Tuesday night on the vodkatonics. (see p23).

CREATE KX/REVEAL

KINGS PLACE

The local visual arts extravaganza links communities, artists, performers and venues within our new neighbourhood through an eclectic mix of creative initiatives designed to ‘reveal’ King’s Cross. College collaborations include the ‘Magnificent Maps’ project (see p23) and ‘Is This All There Is?’, a group exhibition by CSM fine artists exploring themes of transience and mutability.

Housed in an award-winning building in King’s Cross, Kings Place is a hub for live music, dialogue, art and food. Since opening to the public in October 2008, a diverse and critically acclaimed open-minded programme has established Kings Place as one of London’s leading cultural landmarks. Check out this year’s Kings Place Festival – 100 performances in four days, from 9 – 12 September 2010. Central Saint Martins teams up with Kings Place to create a programme of events within the 'Words on Monday' season. Speakers to date include contemporary art curator, critic and author Hans Ulrich Obrist, the writer and artist Tom McCarthy, and the Director of the Hayward Gallery Ralph Rugoff (see p2).

HOUSE OF ILLUSTRATION In 2012 the UK ’s first centre dedicated to the art of illustration will open for business next door to our new King’s Cross home. Central Saint Martins is already exploring ways of working with the House of Illustration to inspire local young people by carrying our illustration practice into neighbourhood classrooms (see p27 for details of an exciting illustration competition).

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

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What will our move to King’s Cross in 2011 mean for the businesses we work with? CSM Time spoke to Director of Enterprise and Innovation, Dani Salvadori

Students visualise potential for branding in The Street

As we count down to King’s Cross, how integral is innovation to CSM? Very! CSM Innovation is all about making things happen which are of economic benefit to the College, its students, graduates, and staff. The department takes in Artscom, so it includes all our short courses. It includes sponsored student projects, which 45 per cent of our postgraduates and 25 per cent of undergraduates undertake in any year. We also provide up to 40 paid internships within CSM Innovation in any given year. We help our graduates to run more effective businesses. And we work with other universities to make a range of projects happen. So we’re absolutely not doing our own thing. We’re doing things with everyone else.

What will it mean for clients to have all our disciplines under one roof? It will mean that the College can do more easily what clients already want. Clients often come to us wanting to work with people from more than one discipline. But outside certain strong pairings between courses, it can be quite difficult. I hope that by being under one roof we’ll get more of a sense, in academic terms, that this is a collective endeavour. It’s a demand coming from students, too. So I’m keen to see us shift our culture so that our course structures can be more flexible.

What conversations have you had about innovation at King’s Cross across the college? I always find the most effective conversations we have are the ones with money attached! Jumping up and down saying we want this or that has no effect. But if we can bring projects to students or courses or researchers, that’s a positive story. As a department we generate £7.5 million per annum, of which about £2.4 million is profit or surplus. That’s a lot of income that allows the College to do things that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.

Students visualise potential for branding in The Street

What about the financial road ahead? We’ve come through the downturn OK, but there’s still the chance that things will get tighter again. Of course we want to extend our reach and our targets. But we have to be realistic. After all, our Artscom programme will change in the new space, and that may have an impact on our revenues. So we’re working to adapt the Artscom model carefully in order to do more things off-site using online platforms and content.

What will our new building offer the businesses we work with?

Why should brands want to do business with us?

What gets you most excited about our move?

At the moment we’re a College that can’t even fit one cohort from one of our big courses into any one room. When we get to King’s Cross we’ll have a whole street that can accommodate the entire College. That will make a profound difference – not just to how people think about each other, but to how people think about us. As well as the Street we’ve got the Terrace – it’s the perfect place for live gigs, for example. I think we can make ourselves one of the great publicprivate spaces in London. The Street will have a stature equivalent to the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern or the Great Court at the British Museum. And when businesses see that, they’ll want to engage with our students all the more.

Because they can see we have 4,500 exceptional students defined by their talent and cool. These are trendsetters and early adopters – precisely the constituency that forward-looking brands want to connect with. We’re preparing the raw data that will interest and excite these brands so we can say ‘work with us and explore the possibilities, and let’s see what will happen’.

I don’t think people have really clocked what a massive change this is going to be for our city, let alone our College. The quality of St Pancras station is so high and the quality of the new King’s Cross is so high and the calibre of our building is so high – I think we’re going to see a huge fillip for this part of the capital, and I love that idea.

What are we doing to capitalise on the 2012 Olympics? We’re getting as involved as we can. We’ve already signed up to some exciting projects, working closely with site developer Argent. Outside Stratford, the King’s Cross development has the best access to the Olympic Park. It’s from here that the Javelin trains will run. So our new building will be four minutes walk from the shuttle service during the Olympics. Given that the park at Stratford lacks the space to welcome all the brands that want to be associated with the Games, we’re ideally placed to help businesses in areas like public engagement.

King’s Cross Student Projects

c s m t i m e f o r K i n g ’ s C r o s s

Over the past year, CSM students have been immersed in projects around KX. Here’s a brief update on what they’ve been doing

Visualisation of corridor at new building at King’s Cross

SURFACES OF THE FUTURE The visual and cultural identity of our King’s Cross development was the inspiration for a BA (Honours) Textile Design project for second-year students. Weave, Print and Knit pathway students created group and individual fabric collections and innovative surfaces, with a brief to bring ‘a new dimension’ to our King’s Cross home.

Patricia Austin, Course Director MCPfNE has her hand/eye co-ordination tested © Wellcome images

The project embraced current and future contexts for textile design, and offered the chance to explore new, alternative, virtual and SMART concepts. Working with non-standard materials and processes, students responded to specific site locations, from corridors to catering areas, to deliver a range of outcomes. Encouraging experiment, the brief invited participants to consider creating their own yarns or fabrics and to explore bonding, stiffening, heat transfer and plasticising processes. Materials sourced from recycling centres and elsewhere included cabling, electronic components, tarpaulin, artificial grass, flooring laminates and fibre optics. Student Anastasia Masadi © Wellcome images

WELLCOME TO YOUR BODY The Wellcome Trust, our future King’s Cross neighbour, has invited CSM students from MA Creative Practice for Narrative Environments and MA Industrial Design to create concepts designed to capitalise on public interest in health and science during the 2012 Olympic Games. For the project, CSM student concepts centred on creating sensory pods or structures to be sited in UK public spaces in 2012. They would feature interactive physical tests exploring ‘brain, bone, brawn, blood and breath’ in areas such as reaction time, heart rate, hand-eye coordination, and lung capacity.

The street begins outside, Clio Capeille

Working solo or in groups, students were asked to focus on the user experience of science, and to challenge or expand the brief in terms of structure type and location. Awaiting the winning idea was a £400 cash prize. Shortlisted entries received £200. Dr Amy Sanders, Special Projects Manager at the Wellcome Trust, said, ‘Working with CSM has been a really useful part of our Olympic planning. Students brought a fresh perspective to how people might engage with the science of the human body.’

Ecology meets comfort in woven willow seating. A modular system to provide seating and tables throughout the street. Ricardo Cirriani

MAPPING OUR INTENTION

The Street – the concourse at the heart of our King’s Cross building – was the focus of a Stage 2 BA (Honours) Architecture: Spaces and Objects student project. The brief was to explore how objects inform and define the use of public space.

Student illustrators at Central Saint Martins have made a colourful contribution to the ‘Magnificent Map of King’s Cross’, showing throughout June at the British Library.

Populating this space with objects poses challenges. Small objects find themselves dwarfed by its scale. As people will use the Street to move from place to place, there can be no obstructions. In a wider sense, this is the space that will define the visitor experience most memorably.

The aims of the Wellcome Trust, a global charity, include public engagement and education, and the application of research to improving human health.

From enclosure to display system, this geometric structure provides multiple uses through different orientations. Sybil Christ

Visualisation of corridor at new building at King’s Cross

THE WORD ON THE STREET

Approximately 180 metres long and four storeys tall, the Street is an internal space with urban proportions and possibilities. It’s here that students will meet, share ideas, eat, drink, and find out what’s happening within the College.

In total, 66 students worked with site architect Paul Williams and course tutors to develop individual approaches to the use of the Street. Solutions ranged from small interventions to large-scale architectural objects that transform the space. In line with the brief, proposals had to balance individual and College needs.

For other King’s Cross student projects, including The Rough Guide to the best cafés, pubs and restaurants, please visit www.csm. arts.ac.uk/docs/csmtime5_1.PD.pdf

The 16-segment local map was commissioned to mark the library’s ‘Magnificent Maps’ exhibition and to celebrate ‘Reveal’, the festival of visual arts in King’s Cross. CSM students designed two segments of the King’s Cross map – Euston and the site of our new building – exploring themes of ‘arrival’ (students reaching London from all over the world) and ‘convergence’ (forming a creative community at our new home). Andrew Hall, subject leader for illustration (BA (Honours) Graphic Design), said ‘The project maps our intention to bring colour and life to this part of the capital and to invigorate it with our creative spirit.’

widening partIcipation 24

c s m t i m e f o r K i n g ’ s C r o s s

Our WP team at CSM ensures that all young people access opportunities at Central Saint Martins, and builds a more inclusive college in the process. For the past year, our work in and around King’s Cross has strengthened relationships within the area and created links with our new community

The newly built barn space at NHYC

NHYC staff and student workshop

NEW HORIZONS Staff from Central Saint Martins, together with Jackie McManus, Head of Widening Participation Programmes for UAL , are working with New Horizon Youth Centre (NHYC) to develop partnership programmes for young people at the Centre. In the coming year CSM staff will be working on ‘Career Wear’, a fashion project, helping young peope with clothes to wear for interviews, and training NHYC staff to make film equipment accessible to young people. There are also plans for drawing, photography and dance sessions at the Centre. Based in Somers Town, King’s Cross, New Horizon Youth Centre works with 3,000 homeless and vulnerable young people every year. Many have poor self-esteem, a history of rejection, harm or abuse, and profoundly negative experiences of agencies. The Centre offers advice about accommodation, education and training programmes, job search and placement, drugs advice and assessment, as well as practical help with food, laundry, showers and second-hand clothes.

In April, NHYC staff picked up the prestigious GlaxoSmithKline Impact Award 2010. Judges commended the Centre for its work with marginalised members of society and praised its ability to bring about lasting change in their lives.

The Insights project

Due to open next door to the new Central Saint Martins building in 2012, the House of Illustration has already embarked on its first education project, placing professional illustrators in primary schools in Camden.

House of Illustration Project Director Flora Sheelagh O’Connor, NHYC director, says, Craig says, ‘We are delighted to be exploring ‘We are very excited about the opportunities creative collaborations with Central Saint that working in partnership with CSM could Martins, a college with a stunning track offer our young people. Art and Design is a record of training students to the highest real hook that interests and stimulates many standards of illustration across a wide range of the young people we work with who see it of disciplines.’ as an opportunity to express their creative potential. We are delighted that CSM has See p27 for an exciting illustration competition. such a willingness to work in constructive partnerships for the benefit of all the community in King’s Cross.’

ILLUSTRATION MATTERS Central Saint Martins will join the House of Illustration (the UK ’s first centre dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms) to host workshops within secondary schools in Camden and Islington from 2011. Selected illustrators will team up with student ambassadors from a variety of courses at CSM . The workshops will demonstrate the scope, reach and potential of illustration within the College, and the wider creative sector.

THE ART FACTOR CSM ’s Insights collaboration with Camden Arts Centre and youth organisations in Camden, Islington and Brent will present its first exhibition of works in progress by young participants in June.

Insights offers young people aged 14–19, with a passion for the visual arts, an opportunity to work with artists Michelle Williams Gamaker and Jessie Brennan at Camden Arts Centre, and with tutors and student ambassadors from Central Saint Martins. The project focuses on helping young people to make career choices within the arts. Each term throughout 2009/10, Central Saint Martins and Camden Arts Centre hosted a series of events for young participants, with discussions and practical workshops in areas such as photography, graphics, and architecture and curation. Insights will resume in September 2010 and continue until autumn 2012. Funded by CSM’s Widening Participation department and the London councils, its current partners include Granville Plus, Hampstead School, and City and Islington College.

House of Illustration’s project with primary school

The Insights project

COMMUNICATING INSPIRATION

SHARING OUR EXPERIENCE

Islington’s Arts Officer, Islington Housing Group, Islington Young People’s Services and Creative Islington will partner Central Saint Martins to exhibit at the Youth Opportunities Fair in London in July.

South Camden Community School is among the schools and FE colleges in and around London benefiting from CSM’s Widening Participation programme.

The College will host short experimental workshops allowing participants to get the feel and flavour of a particular creative field. Says Berni Yates, CSM ’s WP Co-ordinator, ‘Young people interested in careers like fashion or media are often in the dark when it comes to the sheer range of courses – from performance design to fashion communication – that might inspire them.

The SCCS tie-in broadens the horizons of young people from different cultures and social backgrounds through a programme of presentations and master classes by CSM tutors and students. Building a portfolio and applying for a foundation course are among topics covered.

Says Berni Yates, ‘We know these young people find it really useful talking to students from similar cultural and social backgrounds about their experience at CSM , ‘CSM ’s workshops at the Youth Opportunities and how it can open doors. It’s about the Fair represent an opportunity for young very idea they could even think about people to start thinking early about career applying when they believed it was only for possibilities in the creative industries.’ others.’

King’s Cross FAQs

c s m t i m e f o r K i n g ’ s C r o s s

How will we support students?

The Student Centre on the ground floor will be the single point of contact for all our student-facing services: study support; counselling; disability support; registration; finance, and SU . Services will be delivered in this space and elsewhere.

What will our opening hours be? We’ll have to shut for about four hours each night for cleaning and maintenance and in any case, it’s hard to justify the energy use implications of 24/7 opening. It’s likely that the College will be open until 10pm, with the library and SU bar staying open later.

Our bookable spaces are never looked after. Why will it be any different at King’s Cross? Our culture has to change! We’ll have a concierge team to get rooms ready for the next session, and to ensure broken equipment is reported and replaced. But if you use a room you’ll have to leave it as you’d expect to find it – and that means no coffee cups all over the place and no student work left behind in a corner.

Are our offices going to be aircraft hangars filled with rows of desks?

How much are we spending on King’s Cross?

Most clusters have opted for shared offices with ‘quiet’ rooms nearby for private or confidential working. There are some individual offices too, usually for a staff member to use for seeing students. Bookcases and filing cabinets will break up the open plan spaces, but we don’t want to discourage the collaboration and joint working that being together allows us.

About £200 million, including £172 million on buying the land and building (leasehold for 999 years), £28 million for fit-out, furniture and equipment. The project is being funded from a HEFCE grant, the sale of our existing buildings, and a 35 year bank loan.

Will all the rooms at King’s Cross be locked? As part of our security upgrade, staff and student ID cards can be programmed to allow access to some rooms but not all. For obvious health & safety reasons, access to workshops has to be controlled. When it comes to other rooms – seminar rooms, for example – the aim is to maximise access when they’re not timetabled.

How sustainable is our new building?

Very. In addition to re-using an existing structure, the new building meets the highest sustainable construction standards. We’ll be recycling rainwater, using I’ve heard we’ll all have to do crits in the intelligent lights that go off when a room Street area of the building. Yes or no? isn’t being used, and improving recycling We already do a lot of things in our facilities. corridors, and some tutors are excited about holding crits in the Street and on the bridges What will the Street be used for? if appropriate. The Street is a large space. We The canteen will spill out onto the Street. We want to earmark zones that can be used (and might use it for certain degree shows, exhibitions, or screenings. We also want to booked) for a variety of activities. There are site temporary structures here – shipping studios and bookable rooms or zones that container or tepee, anyone? – to create offer more privacy. private spaces for projects or promotions.

Do the windows open? No. The building is so broad that opening windows wouldn’t work – the air wouldn’t travel far enough to make a difference. Fresh air enters the building through grilles near the floor and as it warms up, it’s expelled at ceiling height. A computerised building management system will control airflow and temperature.

I’ve heard there aren’t any proper walls. True or not? Not true. Because the ventilation system relies on air circulating at floor and ceiling height, the more walled-off ‘cells’ you create, the more fans you need. This uses more energy and is less sustainable. But there are lots of ‘proper’ 4 metre-high walls. In bigger studio areas, we’re using movable walls so that spaces can be reconfigured easily.

So we don’t have any outside space? Not that we permanently own. We have access to Granary Square (the Trafalgar Square-size public space right outside our front door) for 20 days a year, and the West Handyside Canopy (the covered space that runs along the eastern side of the building) for 30 days. We also have a large roof terrace that’s about three times the size of The Gallery. Planning restrictions don’t allow us to erect any permanent structures on the Terrace, but you can bet we’re working on how best to use it.

Coming Soon From September 2010

ILLUSTRATE A BOOK, WIN GREAT PRIZES! The House of Illustration and The Folio Society have launched an exciting book illustration competition with great prizes.

When can I get on site? Main contractor BAM Construct UK has to accompany every group around the site for health & safety reasons, and we don’t want to slow down their work. Overbury, our fitout contractor, has just 22 weeks to get the building ready for July 2011 so realistically, we probably won’t be able to get people on site until late August or September. We aim to run induction and orientation tours for staff at that time. We will be producing some virtual tours for our King’s Cross blog throughout the coming year, so staff and students can see our new home virtually. Stop press: we're hoping to open up the site on a Saturday in early autumn for staff to visit. More details to follow.

Will I be able to take any leave during the summer of 2011? Yes, but it’s going to be a busy summer, and some key staff will be needed to help commission equipment and get everything ready. We’ll be looking at ways to enable some staff members to take their holidays earlier or later in 2011.

Why have we lost space relative to what we have? The loss of useable space isn’t as significant as we first thought – down to about 15%. We made an early decision to maintain or extend the facilities students can’t access easily out of the College and provide more shared project student/space that can be used by everyone. The bottom line is that our space utilisation figure of 19.5% is poor, even for the art and design sector. We have to make better use of our space, otherwise we’re in danger of spending too large a proportion of our income on infrastructure and not enough on teaching.

Entrants are invited to submit three illustrations and a binding design for a book to be chosen by The Folio Society. The deadline is December 2010.

Mike Figgis

15–17 September 2010

‘Pathways Project’ by D-Fuse

16 September – 30 October 2010

King’s cross Culture – Stories, Images and Sounds

For more than 150 years, King’s Cross has been a source of inspiration for visual artists, from Walter Sickert to Wyndham Lewis and, more recently, Mike Leigh to Issac Julien and Shane Meadows. The area has been the centre for a rich and diverse plateau of work, often reflecting moments of transition in an artist’s life. ‘KX Culture’ explores the stories, images and sounds from past to present day and how the traces they leave impact upon current visual artists, film makers and musicians, within an area of redevelopment.

Mike Figgis at kings place – Sound, Music and Film

Film director Mike Figgis works on three evenings of projects with Kings Place. Fascinated by the powerful psychological effect of film scores on the drama, he demonstrates his ideas with a live mix of his film Timecode, changing the score and the mix to illustrate the amazing potential of the music. His second night features a selection of songs he wrote for three multimedia performances in the early 80s, combining film with live performance and live music. Finally a mesmerising performance that combines video and soundscapes. For more information visit www.kingsplace.co.uk

In association with Argent, Create KX and Kings Place.

Hardy’s Monument, photo Marc Atkins

King’s Cross Tours in october

The winning entry (judged by a panel of experts) will become a prestigious commission worth £4,000 to complete a total of seven illustrations for the book, which will be published by The Folio Society in summer 2011. Five runners-up will each receive £500 cash.

From Panarmonion to Jam A brief walk through Battlebridge with Marc Atkins.

Entrants must be over 18 and unpublished by The Folio Society. Winners will be announced in January 2011.

Times and dates will be available online from 3 September www.csm.arts.ac.uk

Details of the book and competition terms and conditions will be released in September 2010. To find out more, contact info@houseofillustration.org.uk

We aim to create the

highest quality learning environment â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a place connected to the best in contemporary culture and industry, where creative thinking and practice can flourish, and where staff and students alike will continue to provoke, challenge, inspire and take risks.