UCL East Marshgate, London, England

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London has undergone a fundamental transformation since the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. East Bank has emerged as a new district for culture, education and innovation. Alongside institutions such as the V&A, Sadler’s Wells, the BBC and London College of Fashion, University College London (UCL) has established a new campus here.

UCL East represents the university’s largest single expansion since its foundation. Together with One Pool Street, Marshgate forms the first phase of the campus, establishing research and teaching in an area that has developed into a new centre for culture, education and science in London.

For the characteristic exposed concrete surfaces, the architects developed a bespoke board-marked structure specifically for the project. Timber boards of different widths were selected and arranged according to defined rules. Four board widths and varying depths created variation and helped avoid noticeable repetition in the finished concrete surface.

RECKLI moulded the timber master created by the architects and used it to produce elastic formliners. Several master mould formed the basis for different formliners. Their subsequent arrangement was also carefully planned to minimise repetition of the board pattern.

In this way, the structure developed by Stanton Williams was transferred onto the large-scale concrete surfaces, becoming a distinctive feature of the Fluid Zone.