Building Sciences

For this project, we crafted a complex four-storey extension to the existing Architecture Building on the Newcastle University Campus. The final build includes a state-of-the-art workshop and laser laboratory, design studios, presentation review spaces, and offices which collectively create an enhanced learning experience for architecture students. We were proud to accept the Durham Trust Architectural Award 2019 for this site and were honoured to be a finalist for two Regional LABC awards.

Our design links cleverly to the existing building and offers large volumetric spaces with expanses of natural light throughout. To foreground the raw nature of the building’s form, we maintained structural honesty throughout by using exposed steelwork, roof deck, painted breeze-block, and unskimmed jointed plaster with no paint finish.

As the extension is positioned on a former brownfield site and refuge store, nestled in a build-up area of Newcastle University’s campus, we navigated a series of constraints including underground services, pile caps, access restrictions, and level changes. Not to mention, the build was taking place on a heavily congested and busy live site. The success of the scheme was largely down to the use of our in-house 3D laser scan facilities, and our ability to generate highly accurate existing Building Information Models (BIM).