Royal Academy of Dance

by Takero Shimazaki Architects

Client Royal Academy of Dance

Award RIBA London Award 2024 and RIBA National Award 2024

The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) had a long-standing ambition to transfer their operations from a very inefficient, constrained heritage building in Battersea to a new building in the same area.

This project is the result of CEO Sir Luke Rittner’s vision of a cleverly articulated deal to swap sites with a developer who would also provide significant fit-out funding. The RAD’s new home is the ground floor of a new residential tower on a main thoroughfare. The spaces were originally intended as a large-scale retail unit, and the structural walls, columns, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) services routes were predefined for the building above.

Takero Shimazaki Architects have masterfully reimagined them as a network of spacious indoor streets and plazas that elegantly define the public and private activities taking place and demystify the RAD’s work.

Read the full citation from the RIBA Awards Jury on RIBA Journal.

Contractor Synergy Property Group Limited

Project Management Cragg Management Services Ltd

Environmental / M&E Engineer Delta Green

Acoustic Engineer Charcoalblue

Theatre Consultant Charcoalblue

Lighting Consultant FPOV

Graphic Design Wolfe Hall

Access Consultant CAE

Environmental / M&E Engineer Hoare Lea

Structural Engineer Waterman Group

Architect for Contractor Atomik Architecture

Gross internal area in m² 5890