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UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
a resolutely modern space: students sit on wooden cubes, busily typing away on their laptops surrounded by cork flooring and minimalist white pillars. But your atention is quickly drawn to the pièce de résistance: an awe-inspiring ‘Alice In Wonderland’ staircase that juts off at a different angle on each of the building’s six floors, and whose distinctive, perforated railings scater multifarious natural motifs across the stairwells, depending on the season and time of day. As well as being a perennial talking point, its multi- directional structure is intended to encourage social synergy among the occupants. “University buildings need to focus as incubators
for interaction between students and faculty,” Holl explains. “It was a pleasure working with a university that was willing to broaden its design approach, and our staircase now functions as the backbone of the building.” Not all colleges are splashing out on swanky new
faculty buildings or wholesale refurbishments: some are choosing to channel their funds into more subtle improvements, such as up-to-the-minute, environment-friendly heating and lighting systems, which not only enhance the study experience but also mark them out as a college with a conscience. For example, the University of Liverpool has revamped its entire heating infrastructure, demolishing its old boiler house and 42-metre chimney, and replacing them with a brand-new energy centre that will reduce annual energy consumption by over 13,000 MWh and CO2 emissions by over 7,000 tonnes – that’s the equivalent of taking 2,226 cars off the road each year. Meanwhile, the University of Findlay in Ohio was
recently recognised by ASHRAE (the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) for its energy-saving efforts, having installed a geothermal HVAC system in one of its buildings. The result has undoubtedly improved the student experience – the building is now highly
insulated, while every room is fited with a motion sensor to ensure that the lights are activated only when occupied. But the system is also cost-efficient. In the first year after its installation, the University saved $83,000 in energy costs, as well as $7,500 in maintenance costs – money that can be spent improving other areas of the faculty. Of course, developments such as these don’t
UNIVERSITY'S DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
NEW YORK
come cheap, but universities will argue that the benefits of keeping up with – or betering – the Joneses far outweigh the drawbacks. For a start, the happier the student, the beter his or her results are likely to be – ultimately giving the university a beter standing in an end-of-year league table of achievement. And then there are the potential financial rewards: in the UK, the government’s decision this year to allow unrestrained competition for those gaining ABB grades and above at A-level has, as Universities and Science Minister David Willets says, “put choice and power in the hands of students”. And with tuition fees currently standing at £9,000 per head – that’s roughly £1bn when you add together all the school-leavers looking for a place – being first in the pecking order can reap lucrative gains. The University of East London may have had this in mind when it made the decision to collaborate with its students in the creation of a new campus library, which opened in September 2013. By giving them a say in every step of the design process, it could be satisfied that the outcome would meet every requirement of future academics. One thing’s for sure: with exciting new
developments emerging on campuses all over the world – from architectural jewels to innovations in heating and lighting – choosing a university or college has never been more challenging. And yet, for those school-leavers or mature students seeking inspiration with which to further their education, the selection process is undoubtedly one to savour. UB
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