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Scape Student Living

Client: Scape

Location: Various (UK, Ireland and Australia)

Year: 2009-present

Brief: To create a highly aspirational, super functional living environment ecosystem for students, the core of which is a compact apartment efficient to produce and delightful to live in, enriched by communal areas where students can come together to study, socialise, exercise, eat, drink, learn and live.

General Approach

We have worked with Scape on the development of their student accommodation offering since it was born in 2009, delivering over 18,000 beds across 30 sites in 3 countries (12,000 in Australia, 4,200 in UK, 300 in Ireland) and 2,600 beds in development. Over time we have helped to establish all the key elements of the concept from architecture to graphics – including the name – refining the seamless, fully integrated-user experience that is now central to the brand.

During this time, we have thrived on the design challenge of compact spaces, with their need for multifunctional solutions and stacked services to deliver overlapping activities within clearly delineated zones.

Using industrial design as a methodology, the approach that has evolved takes inspiration from submarines, yachts, planes and caravans – liberating all lost voids, taking nothing for granted and ensuring no space is wasted. We seek to tailor every element to the specifics of the user’s requirements, and to hone solutions that will work hard to support all the varied facets of their lives.

Our experience in this sector has taught us the importance of the user journey, of situating compact spaces within an ecosystem of carefully targeted amenities designed to provide an array of opportunities for social interaction, work, play and exercise. Placing high-functioning, intimate and beautifully resolved living units full of tactile materials and thoughtful details, within a network of stimulating and considered shared spaces, creates a harmonious balance of privacy and community, anticipating user’s needs and supporting their lives.

Every new site presents a different set of challenges – testing and strengthening the scheme to ensure its design solutions work equally well whether located in a new or existing building, a low rise or an urban tower block. Each building has its own unique cultural context, which we look to respond to and reference in the interior, using materials, colour palette, furniture and lighting to ensure the accommodation plugs seamlessly into the local scene, incorporating its food, art, music and design to create a sensitive, relevant landscape for its students to enjoy.

The Room

Each room has been designed as a single entity starting at 13.5 sq.m. with prefabricated bathroom pods plugged in. Its design has evolved, growing and improving through what we have learnt from each new site while maintaining the original principles of efficiency and poetryThe range of room typologies has expanded over time, creating a diversity of products within each Scape building that allows them to respond to a wider spectrum of student needs.

The rooms are orientated to maximize natural light and window views, offering connection to the surrounding area. We chose a super light, reflective and tactile palette of materials to maximize the emotion of space, while playful touches of vibrant colour create a sense of bold simplicity and sophistication.

The Corridors

Corridors are designed both to improve wayfinding and to support the wider Scape identity. We celebrated the risers, expressing their form to break up the linearity of the corridors and allow access for maintenance without disturbing the student’s privacy.

The Communal Areas

The generous communal living spaces that support the private rooms are an essential part of the ecosystem, representing a home from home for students. Inspired by public architecture, the wide range of social amenities, offered across a programme of shared spaces – communal kitchens, study areas, lounges and game rooms, gym, cinema etc. – seek to engage the user creating a wide range of opportunities for interaction.

A palette of hardwearing industrial finishes work hard in high traffic areas. Exposed concrete, rough sawn timber and plywood, enlivened by pops of colour and vibrant graphics, help build a creative narrative in sympathy with the students.

Fixed furniture acts as landmarks in dialogue with an eclectic collection of moveable elements to create zoned areas loosely containing different activities, keeping boundaries blurred to maximize flexibility and responsiveness while establishing a sense of connection, openness and free flow of light.

Creative Direction

Our long-standing relationship with Scape has seen us become custodians of the brand, helping to select architects and designers for future collaborations and overseeing consistent delivery of a high level of quality throughout its international journey. In this role we are part of the project from the very beginning, starting by assessing a site’s potential and feasibility, going on to develop the design strategy and remaining involved to monitor quality of construction.

Scape Shoreditch – Stephen Marshall Architects

Scape Guildford – Ab Rogers Design

Scape Swanston – Denton Corker Marshall

Sustainability Support

We have been working with Scape advising on sustainability relating to our scope as Interior Designer across all their projects. In recent years this has expanded to incorporate wider advice on application of Passivhaus principles, prefabrication, modularisation and procurement with a view to improving speed and efficiency in manufacture and installation, minimising material and energy waste and reducing environmental impact across the board.

 Our most comprehensive project in terms of prefabrication and modularisation was the student accommodation tower we designed for Scape in Wembley. It has been recognised as the tallest modular tower in Europe (27 storeys containing 582 units). Its extraordinarily fast programme – nine months from ground works to occupation was made possible by the application of a completely new design logic dictated by heavy levels of off-site prefabrication which minimised waste as well as supporting quality control. Our experience on this project confirmed our belief in the efficiency of prefabrication and its potential for keeping construction cost and programme under control.

Scape Sites  – Open

UK

Scape Mile End
Architect: Karakusevic Carson Architects + JSA
Status: Completed 2012

Scape Shoreditch
Architect: Stephen Marshall Architects
Status: Completed 2014

Scape Guildford 1
Architect: ARD in collaboration with JSA
Status: Completed 2015

Scape Guildford 2
Architect: Stephen Marshall Architects
Status: Completed 2021

Scape Wembley
Architect: HTA
Status: Completed 2017

Scape Bloomsbury
Architect: Stephen Marshall Architects
Status: Completed 2018

Scape Canalside
Architect: Stephen Marshall Architects
Status: Completed 2020

Scape Kings Cross
Architect: Stephen Marshall Architects
Status: Completed 2023

Scape Canada Water
Architect: Allies & Morrison & Stephen Marshall Architects
Status: Completed 2023

Scape Hammersmith
Architect: RSHP & Axiom
Status: Completed 2024

Scape Leeds
Architect: Simpson Haugh & Axiom
Status: Completed 2024

Ireland

Scape Dublin
Architect: Architects Stephen Marshall Architects & JSA
Status: Completed in 2020

Australia
Sydney:

Scape Abercrombie
Architect: Group GSA
Status: Completed 2019

Scape Redfern
Architect: Turner Studio
Status: Completed 2021

Scape Wilson Lane
Architect: AJC Architects
Status: Completed 2021

Melbourne:

Scape Swanston Street
Architect: Denton Corker Marshall
Status: Completed 2019

Scape Franklin
Architect: Denton Corker Marshall
Status: Completed 2022

Scape Lincoln
Architect: Denton Corker Marshall
Status: Completed 2022

Scape Victoria
(concept design work only)
Architect: Denton Corker Marshall up to Stage 3, Plus Architecture from Stage 4
Status: Completed 2024

Scape CUB
Architect: Denton Corker Marshall
Status: Completed 2022

Brisbane:

Scape Southbank
Architect: Denton Corker Marshall
Status: Completed 2018

Scape Toowong
Architect: Plus Architecture
Status: Completed 2019

Scape Site  – In Progress

Scape Kingsway
(Stage 3 submitted)