086 STUDENT ACCOMMODATION
STUDENT ACCOMMODATION used to be a spartan affair, giving freshers the opportunity to bond with their classmates during the queue for the loo, the wait for the shower or their turn for the sandwich toaster that was growing new life forms in the corner of the kitchen. Alternately stiflingly hot or bone chillingly cold, and with a constant aroma of old socks, burnt toast and stale beer, somewhere in the first term it started to be referred as “home”, and soon afterwards began to feel like it as well. But fast forward a few decades and
university housing is a different story. En suite accommodation is becoming the norm, with small group flats and even self-contained apartments offering a multitude of choices – at a price. ‘Today’s younger generations want to live in high-quality, aesthetic spaces that have the ‘wow-factor’ and allow them to live, study and work in a vibrant and engaging community,’ notes Darren Gardner, chief operating officer at Nido Student, a fast- growing PBSA (purpose-built student accommodation) provider.
It’s hardly surprising that Gen Z youngsters expect nice surroundings – only around one in five of today’s UK teens will have shared a room with a sibling and, apart from the odd camping trip, very few indeed will have ever shared bathrooms with non- family. Turn the clock back to the university building boom of the 1960s, when seven new campuses were built in the UK, including York, Essex and Warwick, and the rows of private rooms and shared facilities were an improvement on what many people saw at
Left and right
One Pool Street, by the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, comprises two
residential towers, containing over 500 student rooms, raised above 4,600 sq m of multifunctional space that houses the teaching and experimental laboratories, including UCL’s Centre for Robotics. The lower levels, including the café and bar, are open to the public, and the lecture theatre doubles as a student cinema in the evenings. The residential towers are slender slab blocks, clad in curved concrete panels with wide overhangs to shade the south and west elevations from the sun. Each cluster of rooms has a glazed common room with stunning views.
Architect: Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
Client: University College London
Contractor: Vinci
Landscape: Bradley-Hole Schoenaich Landscape Architects
Photos: Paul Riddle
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