黑洞社区

The 鈥檚 new Dyson 黑洞社区 was officially 鈥榯opped out鈥� this week in a ceremony involving the Rector Dr Paul Thompson, designer Sir James Dyson and Ed Vaizey minister for communication, culture and the creative industries.
 
A topping out ceremony is traditionally held to mark the completion of the highest point of a building.  With a gross internal area of 4,750m2, the Dyson 黑洞社区 will, when completed, mark the second phase of the RCA鈥檚 ambitious expansion programme in Battersea, London.

Designed by architects Haworth Tompkins building work began last year and the site is scheduled to open at the start of the 2012/13 academic year, when it will house the departments of printmaking and photography as well as incubator units for start-up design enterprises, a lecture theatre seating 225 and a 250m2 gallery.

Dyson has long been a generous supporter of the RCA, and his educational charity, The James Dyson Foundation, has a close relationship with the college. In addition to bursaries given to individual students, the JDF donated 拢100,000 to the RCA in 2006, to help young designers protect their designs, as well as funding a yearly intellectual property seminar. In 2009 the JDF pledged an additional 拢100k per annum for 3 years to InnovationRCA for a patent and proof of concept fund.

The foundation鈥檚 拢5m gift to the Battersea development also released more than 拢1.6m from a government-led matched funding scheme that aims to increase voluntary giving to higher education providers.

Thompson said: 鈥淭oday marks the realisation of the vision of so many members of the RCA community as we make this building a reality, ensuring that students, staff and design entrepreneurs can learn and work in state-of-the-art facilities.

鈥淲e also celebrate the generosity of Sir James Dyson; his foundation鈥檚 substantial gift of 拢5m is at the very heart of this new building which will bear his name.鈥�

Dyson said: 鈥淎s a nation we鈥檝e become too scared to take risks, but it鈥檚 through experimentation and failure that new ideas are born. Young people need confidence to be inventive and the support to be bold.
 
The RCA鈥檚 incubator units will provide the right environment, resources and moral support for new start-up ideas at a time when they are most fragile. Now more than ever, the UK needs to create and export inventions the world wants to buy.鈥�