Byzantine: The University as Stage as City
University of Cambridge Final Year Project [‘18-’19]
Enter
This project was a reaction to the question ‘is a complicated question a good response to the complexity of the world? The brief was to design a building in Manchester for the University.
The project investigated the ways learning takes place, the spaces in which it takes place, the structures that govern learning, and an understanding of how the university expresses itself in the city.
My response found inspiration in the 19th and early 20th century buildings in Manchester, that were leftovers of its industrial past. With a steel frame structure as the basis, I sought to formulate a new building typology for the city, which revives its historical industrial legacywhile addressing the educational needs of the individual student.
Ethnographic research, historic research, massing and compositial studies culminated in a building that focused on redefiniing two key spaces of learning, the personal study room and the lecture theatre, as a way of addressing the tensions of individual and collective learning within higher educational institutions.
The project investigated the ways learning takes place, the spaces in which it takes place, the structures that govern learning, and an understanding of how the university expresses itself in the city.
My response found inspiration in the 19th and early 20th century buildings in Manchester, that were leftovers of its industrial past. With a steel frame structure as the basis, I sought to formulate a new building typology for the city, which revives its historical industrial legacywhile addressing the educational needs of the individual student.
Ethnographic research, historic research, massing and compositial studies culminated in a building that focused on redefiniing two key spaces of learning, the personal study room and the lecture theatre, as a way of addressing the tensions of individual and collective learning within higher educational institutions.