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UCL Wilkins Terrace

Facts

Location Client Cost Completion
London, UK University College London £7m Aug 2017

Project details

Wilkins Terrace is a multi-functional open terrace built over a once cluttered service yard. It connects the Refectory with the main Cloister Buildings and the Bloomsbury Theatre, providing an attractive outdoors space for students and staff that can house large scale events.

The exterior terrace is part of a joint project alongside the refurbished Wilkins Refectory which allows for extended working hours in the space.

Lighting information

The aim for the terrace was to create a subtle lighting scheme, tightly woven within the architecture. There is only integrated, low level lighting with the surrounding facades lit. Special detail has been given to the newly erected 4th facade which is accented with uplights in all the stone reveals.

Having the bright vertical surfaces and the integrated low level details provide enough lighting to the terrace without the need for columns or bollards, freeing up space in the terrace. When no light shines directly at the viewers, but only reflects off of the materials, the eye adjusts easier and the whole space appears brighter.

The lower terrace is treated as an extension of the Refectory and has a higher lighting level, still achieved without dedicated down-lighting. On the upper terrace lighting levels decrease, creating a natural link with the sky.

 

This is a significant milestone for our Transforming UCL programme delivering flexible outdoor space at the heart of our Bloomsbury campus within an existing Grade I listed building. It is a fabulous space developed for our staff, students and visitors and will benefit and inspire our entire academic community for generations to come. This project – its scope and quality – really encapsulates the vision and scale of Transforming UCL in Bloomsbury and beyond.

Andrew Grainger Director of UCL Estates

Brief

  • a terrace that provides routes to all the surrounding spaces
  • create an attractive destination for staff and students in the heart of the main UCL campus
  • enable full flexibility for many different uses

Results

  • an external area that can be used day and night 

Integrated services

lighting, building services engineering

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