London, United Kingdom

Located in the heart of London, the 18,000 square meters Marshall building by Grafton Architects is the architects’ proof that innovative architecture can support educational environments, establishing a new presence for LSE on Lincoln’s Inn Fields

The brief includes lecture and study spaces, academic offices, the Marshall Institute, arts facilities, squash courts, and a 20m x 35m sports hall.

For its unique design features, the Marshall Building has recently been awarded a 2024 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The forecourt to Lincoln’s Inn Fields and the generous entrances and newly pedestrianized streets to the south are landscaped in Yorkstone and create shelter, seating, and a vibrant public realm.

To accommodate the diverse brief, a rotating structure transfers the smaller structural spans at office levels, to the increasing spans required for teaching and sports at the lower levels.

Tree-like columns and beams direct the forces of gravity to the ground through the increasing outward spread of tapered branches.

Under the branches, the Great Hall, a new social space for the university is created, a covered piazza with a sloping terrazzo floor. 

Project: The Marshall Building – London School of Economics and Political Science
Architects: Grafton Architects
Lead Architects: Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara
Landscape Architects: Dermot Foley Landscape Architects
General Contractor: Mace Group
Client: London School of Economics
Photographers: Nick Kane