The RCA has strong ties with leading corporations in industry and is at the centre of human centric design, supporting the healthcare and public sector in socially responsible design and research programmes. Not wishing to rest on its laurels the RCA appointed iDEA in 2014 to develop a long-term accommodation masterplan that supports the college to deliver a continuously evolving teaching methodology in support of new cutting edge programmes to ensure it maintains its status as the leading light in the creative world. 

The college recognised that it needed to take time to reflect on its past and analyse its approach to the student experience, teaching environment and the integration of future of technology. There was also a sense that we needed to challenge some well established notions around spatial ownership.

We concluded the initial phase with a series of campus scenarios projecting the college’s aspirations for growth and providing the senior team with a robust tool for future modelling. At the core of this exercise sat a full range of space budget models that formed the backbone of future demand and contributed to the requirements of the RCA’s 2021 Strategic Plan.

iDEA are now working with the college to progress their 2027 strategic plan to deliver a flexible academic model that will see the implementation of a more agile teaching environment that moves away from 1:1 student studio space to a more blended learning environment.

In support of this we have been instrumental in piloting modular space standards that respond to programme demand constructed from a flexible kit of parts, enabling the environment to be tailored at programme level. Working in partnership with the academics the new academic year will see the trial of studio layouts to refine the accommodation masterplan aligned to the roll out of the evolving Flexible Academic Model.