New Campus Gateway, London Metropolitan University

A striking new presence for a campus regeneration

The New Campus Gateway is the next chapter in London Metropolitan University’s regeneration strategy — a retrofit intervention that reimagines the main arrival experience and creates a striking new presence on Holloway Road.

Working with the existing structure keeps embodied carbon low and London Met’s Net Zero 2030 commitments on track, while delivering a generous, welcoming entrance.

Redefining the arrival

The current campus entrance feels enclosed and congested — with security gates creating a bottleneck that, at peak times, brings the space to a standstill.

Our proposal opens up the existing ground floor of Holloway Tower, removing the first-floor to create a generous and welcoming double-height lobby — large enough to absorb the full flow of students at peak times. Crucially, the new entrance sits deeper into the building, giving students space to arrive, orient themselves, and choose where to go — into the campus, up into the tower, or across to the adjacent Graduate Centre. 

Visible and welcoming

Welcoming and visible from Holloway Road, the Gateway will give the university a striking new presence on one of London’s busiest commuter routes — and signal to anyone passing that they’re welcome to come in.

The vertical rhythm of the new curtain walling mediates between the brutalist tower above and the graduate centre alongside — a considered response to a complicated site, and a clear new presence on Holloway Road.

Internally, the design carries forward the bold colours, geometric graphics, and tactile warmth of Heart of the Campus, which sits on the floor above. Together with the reworked exterior, the building will have a clear and consistent identity from street level up.

A trusted advisor on a complex estate

Extensive stakeholder engagement shaped every aspect of the Gateway’s design — workshops with the people who use these spaces daily, understanding how they move, where they get stuck, and what they need.

Having worked with London Met since 2022, our London studio brings in-depth knowledge with the campus, its constraints, and its ambitions. The Gateway is the next step in that ongoing relationship — supporting the university as it continues to evolve its estate, while keeping disruption to a minimum.