University of Birmingham, Teaching and Learning Building
- Location
- Birmingham, UK
- Client
- University of Birmingham
- Expertise
- Architecture
- Acoustics
- Building Services Engineering
- Civil & Structural Engineering
- Interior Design
- Inclusive Design
- Landscape Architecture
- Lighting
- Sustainability
- Completion
- 2020
- Size
- 5,000 sq m
- Cost
- £24m
The Teaching and Learning Building overlooks a new public space that restores the historic masterplan of the Edgbaston Campus.
Designed to facilitate progressive teaching techniques it provides a flexible range of vibrant teaching, learning and study environments for collaboration and reflection.
It houses informal study and social collaborative spaces for staff and students, including a 500 seat traditional lecture theatre, 250 seat collaborative lecture theatre and 10 seminar spaces. The lecture theatres provide an exciting focal point and create clarity and simplicity of the building's layout.
Passive design measures have been utilised, such as naturally ventilated social learning spaces reducing the reliance on mechanical cooling, optimising the facades to balance heat loss and gain, and maximising daylight. Detailed energy and comfort modelling has been conducted to design a building that uses less energy, driving a holistic, low-carbon solution.
Taking advantage of the ongoing decarbonisation of the grid, the building utilises energy-efficient heating and cooling technologies including reversible heat pumps integral to the lecture theatre air handling units, allowing for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. A displacement ventilation strategy has been applied to the Lecture Theatres resulting in excellent air control and reduces energy requirements.
The theatres are light locked and the challenge was minimising the soporific effects of no natural access to circadian stimulus. The 250-seat theatre has triangular panels within a glulam ceiling structure, the cool white diffuse light gives a sense of natural light via skylights. The 500-seat theatre is illuminated by indirect dynamic white light from a concealed LED strip and soft cool white light helps to create “sky” brightness. Enhanced light levels for study are provided by desk-mounted task lights.