We are delighted to announce that we have been successful in our OJEU bid to be appointed by the University of Bath to design the new Student Centre.

This exciting project will act as a major focus for the University campus and give the students much improved facilities.  It will also dramatically improve the approach to the parade level from the east.  The design of the building is to achieve BREEAM Excellent.

By working closely with this important client and an excellent design team on this challenging project, we believe that we will help the University begin to implement their long term masterplan for the campus.

We will be working with King Sturge, Gleeds and Mann Williams.

In 2005 CABE published ‘Design with Distinction – the value of good building design in higher education’. For some architects, good design was interpreted as extravagant design in pursuit of the elusive ‘wow-factor’ and so the cost of university buildings shot up.

Stubbs Rich Director, John Rich, is actively involved in Constructing Excellence and chairs the regional research and development group.  In 2006, somewhat against the grain, John’s group started looking into the question: “What value does good design really deliver and to whom?”

Post-occupancy reviews traditionally seek opinions from those who are involved in writing the brief or commissioning the building. This research, however, goes deeper: it assesses feedback directly from the users.

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Bath University has grown massively in recent decades, both in size and importance, but the Student Union’s accommodation has not kept pace. Stubbs Rich has designed an extension to the current accommodation that not only gives more space and more flexibility but, just as importantly, gives the Union much more presence on campus. For the first time the Union will have a prominent main entrance. The proposal also resolves the problem of the narrow route from the main bus stop to the Parade; the project is seen as an important part of realising the University’s long term masterplan aspirations.

The proposed design is currently being promoted by the SU to the University Executive. Alex Nicholson-Evans, the SU President, has encouraged students to use Facebook to voice their support for the scheme. So far there have been nearly 3,000 students registering their approval.

 

An important new thoroughfare has been created through one of the historical buildings of Bristol Grammar School. Linking the Great Hall to the rest of the school campus, this new route is a vital part of the masterplan Stubbs Rich has created for the school.

The route was not provided in 1840 when the Main School Building was built as it would have crossed the Headmaster’s private garden! Today’s Headmaster Mr MacKinnon commented: “The new opening looks like it was intended to be here from the start and we are extremely pleased with the result.”

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Stubbs Rich have just completed the first phase of the Hereford Learning Village, comprising an iconic Learning Resources Centre, Business Centre and Technology Centre.

The Learning Resource Centre is intended as a landmark, not just for the Learning Village Campus but for the whole region. It therefore occupies a focal position within the development, and its architectural form and language speak of its significance. It is perceived as the most dominant building on the site and a catalyst for future development.

The imaginative and expressive use of materials is critical to the perception of this building as a ‘landmark’. Stubbs Rich have employed a varied palette of innovative and non-traditional materials and systems (such as corten weathering steel and kalwall translucent glazing).

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