This project will form a new centrepiece for the University of Exeter’s famously hilly Streatham Campus. Working with the natural features of the site, a ‘green corridor’ will connect the Forum with the wider landscape. Central to the scheme is an undulating timber gridshell roof, which shelters and unifies a series of new student-focused spaces within. The fluid form contrasts with the orthogonal brick volumes of the existing buildings on this steeply sloping site, and respects key views across the city to Dartmoor. The Forum will provide an extended library, new learning spaces, student services, a landscaped plaza and new University reception as part of a £450 million capital investment programme.

Date:

Appointed October 2008

Location:

Exeter, UK

Client:

University of Exeter

Value:

£48 million

Type:

• Education

Theme:

• Landscape & Public Realm,
• Long Span Structures,
• Materiality,
• Sustainability

Ideas:

• Exploring Boundaries,
• Lightness,
• Specificity & Narrative

Link:

www.exeter.ac.uk