Wow factor

Several years ago I was involved in a really exciting project as part of the client design team for the Information Commons. This lunchtime I was back pouring over plans and 3D images, discussing power supplies, even talking about colour swatches - all very exciting. Our New Engineering Building (working title only, watch this space) is starting to be built. The old hospital site has been cleared, a big hole has appeared, and piles are being driven.

Although the building will have a substantial amount of space for Engineering teaching, there will also be a lot of student-led learning space, or as we call it, IC-type space. These are the bits that we're interested in, and it was great today to see how it's all coming together. There'll be many more group  rooms, silent areas, group study areas and we'll be seriously increasing our creative media facilities for both production and editing of all kinds of media.

The building will certainly have the wow factor. Desinged by the same architect who designed the IC, it has an innovative cladding, and although some media coverage has referred to it as a pyramid, it really isn't - it's more of a cuboid, although from this angle it does look a bit as though it's higher at one end.

The inside is going to be really funky, with a spiral staircase, pods, and bridges in a central atrium. Here's a couple of taster images of the latest renderings.

Glad we've started the really detailed design and the build now - can't wait to see it start to rise out of the hole in the ground!