Our brief for the School of Management’s move to Canary Wharf was to design a whole university satellite on the 38th floor of One Canada Square, complete with academic, administrative and social spaces. We needed to create a space where business meets academia – breaking down corporate norms to provide a stimulating learning environment.

A hub space welcomes students on arrival with two ‘Harvard-style’ lecture theatres located either side; their intimate semi-circular format and tiered seating facilitating discussion. Breakout niches are also integrated into the window bays at the rear of the seating to allow smaller group working.

We wanted to encourage interaction at every opportunity, which manifested itself through a deliberate breaking of the geometry to create a number of incidental and informal spaces. Key to our design concept was to divide the space into distinct zones serving the different aspects of the School’s work – nicknamed ‘villages’. Each is defined by a particular colour and texture through the lighting, flooring and graphics, with the entrances open to allow allowing glimpses into the spaces and spectacular views of the London skyline beyond.