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More than a third of students surveyed in The Higher Education Policy Institute/ Higher Education Academy 2014 study said they thought that their university should spend money on beter learning facilities (though not beter buildings, which ranked lower). Beter sports facilities were, by way of comparison, much further down their list of priorities. Improvements to learning facilities may call for considerable investment from an already-stretched budget, but if the effects can be seen in the happiness and results of students then many consider that it could be worth it. The first step is to prioritise


improvements across the university. But doing this will mean anticipating student and staff use of campus space long into the future, going beyond the simple addition of extra plug sockets and considering how teaching and learning might also be different.


Creating for the future Helen Newman, specialist education architect at global consultancy Atkins, admits that we cannot possibly know exactly how learning spaces will be utilised in the future, so instead of creating defined rooms we may instead consider the idea of creating spaces where exciting things might happen. “Students will come and inhabit that space and it will change,” she says. “Each cohort will bring something different.” Newman has been involved in


designing the new University of Northampton campus which will include a learning commons (LC) where the traditional divide between teaching, academic, student support and open learning spaces will be blurred through co-location and shared use. One example of this blurred approach to design is in the new timber-panelled research and enterprise building. Instead of prescribing areas for specific use through detailed design, Helen says: “We want that to become a burst of creativity so we've kept that quite simple.” Along with leaving space for the


students to be creative, Newman considers it important to make places appealing to encourage use. One of the key concerns of Northampton University is in encouraging use of the library. Newman adds: “It’s not just about creating a library where students go.The ground floors of all the buildings have a welcoming social learning space. We are creating the destinations, and there happen to be learning spaces off that.”


The building as art


This ultra-modern building is the performing arts centre at the Victorian College of the Arts, in the University of Melbourne, Australia. The façade of the building is loaded with social, ideological and political symbolism, and is intended to inspire in the students who use it a sense of hope and possibility for a good society. The playful exterior of this building mirrors the creativity going on inside for students studying dance, theatre and production.


designed to inspire ideas and creativity in their students. In 2014, reaction to the fire which destroyed the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed Glasgow School of Art was akin to human elegy. One graduate posted online: “It is not replaceable, or rebuildable. The building itself defines art for anyone who ever studied there. It's like someone has died.” The building itself had clearly inspired generations of students, and was, in the words of one, “haunted with the talents of so many skilled people.”


Improving student satisfaction Atmosphere is all-important to the student experience, and yet it’s something that is impossible to measure. At Edinburgh Napier University, their Craiglockhart campus was extended in 2004 integrating £30m worth of new development within the site's existing 19th-century buildings. Professor George Stonehouse, Dean of Edinburgh Napier Business School, says: “Craiglockhart has proved to be a huge success with students, staff and external organisations. In fact student satisfaction in the Business School is the highest in the University and I am sure that the ambience and atmosphere of the building contribute to this.” Stonehouse sees the value of making


positive investments in architecture to boost students’ learning and concentration. One stand-out building at Edinburgh Napier is an egg-shaped lecture theatre, which looks more like a titanium-clad spaceship than a classroom. Inside, students benefit from being close to the speaker because of the unusual oval design, and excellent acoustics were also a priority for the designers. Stonehouse says: “The Egg is obviously


An inspiration for students Perhaps in 20 years’ time, Northampton will be known as much for its new University buildings as more established places in the town. Indeed, many historic University buildings have come to embody the education they foster, and many new ones, too, are


“It is not replaceable, or rebuildable. The building itself defines art for anyone who ever studied there. It's like someone has died”


the single most iconic part of the campus, but unlike many iconic buildings it embodies functional excellence. It fits the bill for high-profile events and keynote speeches, and is equally at home in its day- to-day job of providing students with a lecture room which has a real 'wow' factor enhancing their learning experience.”


Briefing architects Every university has a brand to itself – the most fortunate are able to reflect that uniqueness in the buildings on campus. Some have become iconic: the University of London’s towering Senate House; Birmingham’s clocktower. For Edinburgh Napier, that was very much part of the thinking in designing the new campus. University secretary Gerry Webber


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