Music School at King’s College School

By Luca Maria Francesco Fabris - 5 March 2020

Many buildings that we appreciate today for their special character would not exist had it not been for a few British designers, who - now more than 50 years ago - determined to embrace technology as part of the science of building, applying modern methods of separating the constructive elements and so making dry construction methods possible. Although architectural projects using futurist technology had been proposed by groups like Archigram since the mid 1960s, they had remained on paper. It was only after the arrival of Richard Rogers (initially together with Renzo Piano) and Norman Foster that “high-tech” began not only to be talked about but also realized. It would be a disciple of Foster, Michael Hopkins, who would fine-tune the new typology, integrating the structural frame into the architectural project itself, making especially wide use of tensile structures. Hopkins and his wife Patty started Hopkins Architects in 1976. Since then, the London practice, which now boasts offices in various parts of the world, has been synonymous with research and innovation in both composition and structural technology, from the outset also showing a strong predilection for environmental sustainability long before it became a must. Theirs has always been an awareness of natural cycles, the particular features of a place and its community, with the upshot that the Hopkins Architects style has never ceased to evolve while remaining true to certain key tenets. One of these is the re-introduction of timber as a major construction element and the re-discovery of the brick and its technical and aesthetic qualities.

The Music School of King’s College in the London neighborhood of Wimbledon is a concrete example of the firm’s design philosophy, combining ancient fabrication techniques with innovative construction methods. The result is architecture that although very much of its day, also exudes a timeless quality - despite, in this case, its...