CSM in the NY Times

Yesterday, an article appeared in the New York Times' Style section about Central Saint Martins moving to its new Kings Cross building. Since we're all CSM grads, I wanted to link it here.

From the article: The dean of fashion and textiles, Anne Smith, said: “What is really fantastic is the mix of all disciplines from drama students and fine arts. I think the student community will be much healthier.”

When we were on the MA Textile Futures course, which was based at the iconic Lethaby building on Southampton Row, we mixed with the MA Industrial Design students (the were also based in the Lethaby building). The relationships we made have carried on and continue to influence us. We didn't have the same fruitful relationship with the courses that were not in our building, so it will be great, as Anne Smith says, for all of the disciplines to share a space.

However, the departure from the Southampton Row building leaves many of us with a sense of nostalgia. The atmospheric building is named after Art and Crafts Movement architect William Lethaby. Lethaby was an influential figure in late 19th century London, who founded the Central School of Art and Design and eventually became the first Professor of Design at the Royal College of Art.

Lethaby had a deep interest medieval and non-European design, and published Architecture, Mysticism, and Myth in 1891. His wikipedia entry states that "this was the first major work of architectural theory to treat architecture as a system of symbols with identifiable philosophical meanings, rather than as abstract systems of aesthetic principles."

Personally, the medieval architectural details resonated, and probably even led, the design research I was doing there. It also made for a convenient location to do photo shoots!

A recent Homes&Properties article implies that the Lethaby Building is "earmarked for residential development".