Building Blocks:Layout 1 11/09/2009 14:14 Page 39
building blocks
A glass-faced cube floats
above a podium
Liverpool University’s Engineering Department had been split into a number of existing
buildings on the campus, with no effective centre and difficult circulation patterns
between buildings. A £19m scheme was devised to create a unified environment.
T
HE CATALYST for the project was Metropolitan Cathedral. The Active
the ‘Liverpool Engineer’ mission Learning Lab itself was envisaged as an
statement of the University. This had iconic structure, an identifiable landmark
a new concept of an active learning to act as a high profile new face of
laboratory as the focus of engineering engineering, as a powerful tool in
activity, bringing together teaching and attracting students and staff.
research and linking these to the
remainder of the University and to the Continuation
City of Liverpool. The laboratory was to The brief for architects Sheppard Robson
accommodate the full engineering called for the retention and adaptation of
process from conception and design, the historic buildings housing the
through fabrication and assembly, to Department, including the original Victorian
testing, in a single facility. Walker Building and the later Edwardian
The Department of Engineering enjoys Harrison Hughes Building. It also called
a fine location at the peak of Brownlow for the continuation of the Department’s
Hill, strategically adjacent to the original research work during construction,
Victoria Building (the inspiration for the involving the retention of certain research
term ‘Red Brick University’) and the facilities and minimal decanting of others.
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