UCH2 University of Brighton
This is a major new building for the University of Brighton’s satellite campus in Hastings, and forms the southern boundary of our successful Priory Quarter regeneration scheme in Hastings town centre. The building offers a lively and contemporary presence overlooking a new public square, and combines a landmark new building with the refurbishment of a 1930s Post Office building.
The new building rises to six storeys with full height windows, each separated by elegant fins to break up the façade and deep eaves to provide shade. The main feature is a series of perforated steel ventilation panels, each of which reproduces a section of the Bayeaux Tapestry. Practically these obscure window openings and provide additional shade, while referencing the town’s history. The lecture theatre projects into the square at raised ground floor level, clad with rows of patterned red brick that provide an interesting visual contrast with the upper levels, and reference the materials of the Post Office and other nearby buildings.
We developed our own modelling software to efficiently produce the perforation templates for the screens. This produces the complex patterns using only three different perforation sizes, while still giving a very high quality visual effect. The system allows panels to be manufactured more cheaply, while allowing the design team to retain full control over their specification and final appearance.
Inside, the simple layout is arranged around a full height atrium, where a feature staircase winds around an exposed lift shaft to create a light-filled, open and airy environment. Tall exposed timber panels rise through the atrium, with a decorative scheme informed by the colour palette of the Bayeux tapestry. Motifs from the tapestry are also repeated on the lift carriages and in glazed partitions separating the atrium from office spaces beyond. A first floor café brings people and activity to the heart of the building, which also accommodates a state of the art science lab, lecture theatre, student centre, staff offices, and a flexible series of teaching and meeting rooms.
