School of Architecture and the Built Environment

Description

A cutting-edge super campus, the University of Wolverhampton's School of Architecture and the Built Environment has been sympathetically designed to marry the past with the present. Photography by Tom Bird / Hufton + Crow

Tiles Used

Hampstead 2AST512, Replicate range, Snowtop 5KSF001, Dewdrop range, Abyss 3SCT0031, Sumac 3SCT0033, both from the Travertine 1 range.

Outcome

Located in the grounds of the former Springfield Brewery, the University of Wolverhampton’s impressive School of Architecture and the Built Environment has risen like a phoenix from the ashes.

The once beleaguered site on which it sits suffered more than a decade of abandonment, two major fires and a failed residential development, before the super campus finally bestowed the area with a new lease of life.

One of just four finalists to be shortlisted for the Architects Journal’s AJ100 Client of the Year award, the university has restored the most salvageable of the brewery’s historic structures, combining them with state-of-the-art contemporary buildings.

Paying homage to the city’s industrial heritage, Associated Architects chose to adorn the atrium floor with Solus’ concrete-effect Hampstead tiles. The hardwearing products also feature on an eye-catching staircase which leads to the first floor, where the range’s presence creates a sense of cohesion.

The interior’s stylish aesthetics extend to the washrooms, where Solus’ limestone-effect Sumac tiles have been applied to the floors and its Abyss tiles bedeck the walls. In the canteen, the delicate diamond shaped Snowtop tiles form intriguing cuboid patterns behind the servery.