SHOREHEAD BUILDING : UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD

Sectors : Learning

Client : Bardsley Construction Ltd

DLA Design partnered Bardsley Construction on their bid for the University of Huddersfield’s landmark new teaching facility.

The £27.5 million, six-storey building would provide an exciting new home for the School of Law and the School of Music, Humanities and Media, in addition to a number of lecture theatres, staff offices and ancillary spaces.

The scheme held wider importance as a key driver in the University’s aspiration to consolidate its campus in Huddersfield town centre. The proposed design responded to the challenging site topography by introducing a series of split levels which in turn provided the opportunity for interesting views throughout the building.

Teaching spaces embraced a simple design, stacked in linear blocks running perpendicular to the street, forming a series of small atria inbetween. Tiered lecture theatres and general teaching spaces were stacked vertically on the prominent corner of the site. This simplicity would carry through to rendering, with a stone plinth to the perimeter of the building and feature gold steel cladding to the lecture theatres.