The Department of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Nottingham is one of the largest schools of architecture and building engineering in the UK with circa 1000 talented students in 15 core undergraduate and postgraduate programmes covering architecture, architectural environmental engineering, urban design, building services, and sustainable energy technologies. We are a top 100 department/school of architecture in the world according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024, which positions us as 6th in the UK where we are also ranked within the top 10 in all major guides. We are particularly known for our research expertise and reputation for innovation in the areas of sustainable architecture and energy efficient buildings, and this area of strength is interleaved throughout our programmes offer. Another aspect of our distinctiveness is our focus on learning by doing and on the use of real sites and clients.
These two areas of strength come together in the MArch Architecture Part 2 module on environmental façade. This year, the module focused on the evaluation and redesign of the University of Nottingham Castle Meadow Campus in line with the client’s brief, a stunning piece of architecture designed by Michael Hopkins & Partners and engineering by Arup in 1994 as the Inland Revenue Centre. This distinctive and large set of buildings in Nottingham’s site centre was listed on the National Heritage List for England in June 2023 in recognition of its architectural interest and quality, and historic importance demonstrating a new tempered modernism in the early-1990s and a special attention to sustainability issues throughout the design. - Lucelia Rodrigues, Head of Department of Architecture & Built Environment, Professor of Sustainable and Resilient Cities, Faculty of Engineering.
See the students work below:
Our environmental façade module investigated a real-life study evaluating the University of Nottingham Castle Meadow Campus, CMC. This involved reviewing the historic vision of Modernism through the original concept applied by Michael Hopkins & Partners' 1994 Inland Revenue Centre and its current listing achieved June 2023. Our façade program undertook measures to progress a 30-year design through the challenge of integrating new technological advances in materials science, pre-heating and heat recirculation’s systems for the UoN Business School. The goal was to validate these new interventions using modelling approaches to build a performance specification for the university's estate team in guiding them in developing current baseline fabric performance, using retrofit principles through scoping aims of:
- Scope 1; Entrance design configuration to improve visibility, passive ventilation and fire protection aligned to working with the current structure by modification to change.
- Scope 2; Progression of a facade bay design to advance current beyond present listing to review future potential by performance.
- Scope 3; Passive ventilation strategies are listed by requirement, options to develop new techniques to advance current method through design schematics by potentials for concept implementations.
The challenge was to assess new concept impacts and validate step changes to implement student ambitions and justification reasons for change, by the selected design path in response. We hope you enjoy the review of our student work! Mark Alston (course coordinator), Assistant Professor in Environmental Design, Faculty of Engineering.