PROJECT REPORT: EDUCATION & RESEARCH FACILITIES
a link to Manchester’s textile heritage. The mechanics of weaving were a “literal inspiration,” says Otto Diesfeldt. He continues: “A strict rhythm in one direction is literally interwoven with different textures in other directions.” Running under MEC Hall is a brick
Victorian sewer, which posed a key challenge in terms of building over it. However, the architects made a virtue out of structural engineer Arup’s requirement to move the building’s key loads a certain distance from this obstacle, designing a triple-height covered events space. Featuring a wide stair filling one end that can also function as seating, it will be used for large functions such as graduations. The campus is targeted to achieve BREEAM Excellent, and features an ‘active travel hub’ for cyclists and pedestrians. Exterior landscaping promotes biodiversity and the building will have “advanced energy saving, waste management and water conservation techniques.”
A flexible learning showcase The grid, which minimises columns in the exposed concrete interiors, aiding lecture theatre design, also “encourages the building to be used flexibly,” says the project architect. Extra columns were only required in “one or two” of the heaviest- loaded workshops. While classroom and research areas can be easily changed over time as needs change, together with their bespoke modular furniture, the circulation logic of street and atria remains fixed so the rest can flex around it, including into spaces deliberately left void. The designers were conscious of the need to “give different groups a place they can make their own, but still plan for it to evolve.” Diesfeldt describes the building as a “scaffolding for change,” as well as a “catalyst” driving further necessary changes. A dynamic institution such as this has a high turnover of activities, as research projects run their course and new projects require a different set-up.
Some research spaces are so highly tailored, such as the electron microscope suite, that they’re not suitable for a generic, flexible design. However, in general, says Otto, “It shouldn’t be a building where if you move a table the composition is off, it’s a robust structure that empowers people to change whatever they can.”
The building is designed to help academics and students think outside the box and change how they work – to “move away from an old-school class set up, and focusing
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more on learning by doing.” For example, movable partitions have been included between some teaching labs and lecture theatres, so that classes can become “very dynamic,” and move from one to the other. The building places all of the workshops on the ground floor behind glass to give them maximum visibility. The ultimate expression of the aim to put the research on show is a large, open ‘Makerspace’ where a host of research projects will be based, sitting adjacent to the main entrance. While not featuring the often heavy duty equipment on show in some of the other workshops, the space will include equipment like 3D printers in spaces that can be made accessible 24 hours so students can work on projects whenever they want to. It will also demonstrate the collaboration possible across
The 8 metre-wide staircases that climb through the atria have a large landing providing an observation platform to see what’s happening in the ground floor workshops below
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