Designed by Stanton Williams Architects, the new University of the Arts Central St Martins Campus at Kings Cross was named Winner of the Architects’ Journal AJ100 Building of the Year 2012 – an award for quite simply the finest building completed by an AJ100 practice in the past year.

Drama by Design is proud to be associated with this winning project. We worked with the client and the fit-out contractor Overbury plc on the complete design, technical specification and project management of the 300 seat KX Platform professional theatre space, the Studio Theatre, the Black and White multipurpose arts spaces and the two lecture theatres.

For the judges, it was the quality of environment created for the end-user at the Central St Martins Arts Campus that stood out among the shortlist. The project overcame a potentially toxic procurement process and brutal cost-cutting but now sets the benchmark in an important regenerated area in London.

The judges, who included Simon Silver, director of Derwent London; Martin Young, chief architect of Tesco; Dan Labbad, chief executive of Lend Lease and Scott Lawrie, director of ALL Design, said: ‘Although a very large building, it doesn’t shout too loudly, and enhances the buildings around it. The detailing is elegant, but it is most successful in navigating its context. A giant building, yet respectful and dignified.’