London Screen Academy — AI (2024)

Disused and abandoned Ladbroke House, a former 1930s radio and television factory in Islington, was teeming with historic value, its long-forgotten potential hidden from all but the most ardent developers. When two of the UK’s most successful film producers partner with the Department for Education, turning their attention to setting up a brand new academy, it offers a unique opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind cultural institution dedicated to the art of visual storytelling

To bring decaying buildings back to life, to make them fit for purpose for 21st-century creative industry takes real vision, understanding what can be saved, adapted, renewed and enhanced. The industrial space spoke to our hearts as the perfect raw material in which to house film’s bright future.

Preserving the heritage facade, lessening the impact on the local area by keeping the location’s historic grain intact, we nurtured this place through the dramatic internal reconfiguration needed to make the building not only work for the London Screen Academy but to be an industry-leading headquarters for a new cultural institution.

Preserving and adapting a forgotten space

The existing 1930s building was comprised of concrete-encased steel frame structure, with hollow pot flooring system. The structural framing grid was ideal to work with, on a 6m x 6m grid allowing great flexibility for internal arrangement. However, the hollow pot clay floor was a challenge to work with. Being fragile to alteration, but characterful as a final painted finish, we were keen to expose as much of this as possible – ensuring the qualities of the existing fabric would be visible. This required careful design detailing with the structural engineer to allow design moves that would minimise disruption. Similarly, the nature of the existing structural frame was such that it was inconsistent in places, having been subject to alterations over the life of the building. It was critical to get accurate 3D surveys of the building post soft strip out to allow us to work with the building and make key decisions about the use of spaces that would work with the building rather than against it.

By stripping back the internal frame of the building, and reworking the multi-storey industrial space –carving out the centre of the space to insert a three-storey professional film production studio and supporting facilities – we have created spaces that will grow with the ambition of this place, surrounded by teaching and workshop spaces that are truly versatile, adopting a long life, loose fit ethos. Taking the inside out, we created a whole new rooftop courtyard, to field film screenings, to play host to informal gatherings and events as a versatile social space and offer students never-before-seen views over London.

Diversity and accessibility in the creative industries

Working in close partnership, The London Screen Academy and Architecture Initiative have redefined what creative education means for the future.

London is one of the world’s principal cities of culture, but access to cultural employment and production is denied to too many, undermining equality of opportunity and jeopardising future success.

Creative industries are one of the fastest-growing sectors in our economy, accounting for one in six jobs in London alone, but the screen industries are seen as inaccessible, opaque, expensive to get training and difficult to get a foothold in. Through close collaboration with leading industry figures, listening and learning from their keen first-hand experience, we turned a decaying building, all but forgotten, into a shining beacon for future talent and growth in the screen-based arts.

Learn more about our approach to retrofit.

↓ Download our retrofit brochure below.

Download the report

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info@architectureinitiative.com
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