PROJECT REPORT: EDUCATION & RESEARCH FACILITIES 37
The canteen is run by the university, but the cafe bar – on the corner of the ground floor – is leased by a private firm. “The idea was to have something that was special, a bit higher end,” says Tatham. Until the new building’s arrival, staff wishing to take an overseas visitor for lunch, for example, were short of good options. The cafeteria and bar at ground level will open directly into green landscaped to include rain gardens and recreational space, and external seating. This sits close to an east to west pedestrian and cycle path. Its upper floors incorporate a library service, media lab, multi-use spaces, learning resource areas, and workspaces ranging from informal open areas through to individual study booths. Learning spaces and meeting rooms are available to businesses and the wider community outside of core teaching
ADF JANUARY 2023
times, for activities including social and networking events, talks and art exhibitions.
Suiting its flexible, blended functions, the building itself is “very blended, in a way,” says Tatham, despite its different atmospheres created on each level. While the cafeteria space on the ground floor is designed as such, “we didn’t want it to be sitting there empty during the mornings and afternoons,” so it was designed to be multifunctional, and to be a pleasant space to work in at any time. The building is clad in a ‘veil’ of folded and perforated aluminium, chosen to reflect the colours of the surrounding landscape. Being perforated, its appearance changes by the hour, and by the season. At dusk, integrated lighting between the aluminium veil and the rainscreen “brings the building to life,” say the architects, with
The rigorous briefing process “didn’t permit anything whimsical or arbitrary” says Tatham
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