Facilities
The Design Museum describes Kingston School of Art's studio and workshop suite as "a world class design facility". We have invested heavily in the facilities to date, and are currently building a £32m extension.
This comprehensive workshop provision underpins three of our key principles:
- Thinking through making: We believe that students learn most about ideas, materials and techniques by being experimental practitioners. We therefore encourage maximum participation in creating tangible objects. Students use this to understand their medium and find a unique identity for their work.
- Analogue to digital: We believe that students gain a true and deep understanding of making if given access to a spectrum of processes, from historic and traditional to contemporary and experimental. Consequently, we provide a vast range of tools and methodologies to explore and combine, from blacksmithing to laser cutting.
- Collaboration: We believe that students – and ideas – are stimulated by sharing concepts and approaches, and by collaborating with people whose perspective is different. Therefore, we ensure all facilities are open to all Kingston School of Art students, regardless of their chosen field of study.
I was blown away by the quality of the facilities.
The breadth of disciplines catered for is very impressive... the best workshop in a UK university.
Ian Hunter, Director of The Materials Council
Successful students and makers need three further provisions.
- First, they need a supportive culture of practitioners, and so our academic staff and technicians work collaboratively to support students within the workshops.
- Next, they need regular access, so we ensure our workshops are available six days a week.
- Finally, they need accessible resource information and so we also provide reference and resource materials traditionally and digitally in the adjacent Learning Resource Centre.
We encourage students from all disciplines to use all of our workshops.
Richard Trupp, Head of Workshops
