Air Space Institute

Products used: Bricks

Brick type used: Ivanhoe Cream Original

Factory Location: Leicester SM2

Project location: Lincoln

Architects: Stem Architects

The Air Space Institute (IASTI) is a brand new development by Lincoln College. The state-of-the-art centre, completed in 2024, is a word-class facility designed to provide training for young people for various roles within the aviation and space industries, and associated infrastructures.

Representing an investment of more than £10m, the IASTI is a flagship project under the government’s Town Funds programme.

The design of the Institute was spearheaded by Stem Architects, a local firm that specialises in creative and functional design for education, recreation and commercial projects.

Design inspiration for the facility was predominately influenced by historic aircraft hangers and the striking characteristics of plane tail fins. IASTI has been designed to accommodate the unique requirements of the college’s aviation and aerospace courses and features a large hangar bay housing the fuselage of a Boeing aircraft.

With a striking, geometric exterior, the IASTI development is unmistakeably modern, with striking glass frontages that allow natural daylight to stream into the space.

Opting for classic brickwork to build the structure, Stem Architects specified Ibstock’s Ivanhoe Cream Original. With a clean, timeless quality, the Ivanhoe Cream lends an elegant look to the development, without compromising the modernity Stem’s wider design is striving for.

The light colour of the bricks evoke the gleaming fuselage of an aeroplane, and will weather gracefully over time.

The finished IASTI is truly stunning. Combining a timeless building material such as brick with a shining glass frontage results in a building that is classic yet modern – befitting for a building with such a unique purpose.