University of Bolton, Design Studio Project
| Contact Details: | Mike Lomas, Head of Collaborative Partnerships and Employer Engagement, M.lomas@bolton.ac.uk Andy Smith, Business Development Manager, Design Studio, A.Smith@bolton.ac.uk |
| Type of Project: |
The Project has aspects of both a new build and a refurbishment. The building was originally 8 storeys and the top five floors were removed. The remaining three floors were reconfigured and made into the Design Studio - the inside is now completely different to how it looked originally. This was done as it made economical sense - it was cheaper to reduce and renovate the original building than to knock it down and re-build. |
| Start/End Date: | It has been open since summer 2003 and the project took 18 months to complete. |
Background and Context
The building was in a bad state of repair. It had been built in the early 1960s. There were problems with the steel infrastructure to the concrete and the decision was made that Bolton could have something that was worthwhile and they wanted to use the space in a different way because of the change in courses, students. Design is a big feature at Bolton both in the art and design area and in the product design/engineering area. Bolton thought that the re-configured building would be an excellent space for these design activities. Partly about updating existing and adding additional software and partly about creating additional space in a number of areas, particularly Graphics and Illustration/Animation. Bolton has been getting a significant increase in students in these disciplines over the last few years. It is one of the University's aims over the next 18 months to move all activities on to one campus and focus on the one campus.
Prior to the building work Graphics and Animation were based at Bolton's other campus (Chadwick) which is going to close. The project saw the beginning of the process of consolidating everything and bringing it all on to one campus.
'Lawn on the roof - it's quite difficult to grow grass in Bolton because it's so wet - it's probably easier to grow rice!!!' They've installed a lawn because it's a bit quirky and it adds to the green aspects of the campus. The eLaB and Microelectronics areas open out on to the Lawn and it was the original intention that there should be some events held there, this has not happened yet but there is potential for this to happen in the future.
The atrium takes up a huge amount of space and some might say that it's dead space to some extent but it makes a statement, it's interesting. The people involved in the project were conscious that whilst the practicalities were important they did not want to build just another functional building - they wanted to create some interest.
The whole building has to produce the outputs required of it by the community it works alongside.
Conservation was addressed in terms of heating and ventilating the building - they tried to get as much natural flow-through (of hot or cold air depending on the season) as possible (supplemented by some fans within the system) and the atrium helps with this. It doesn't take too much energy to push the air around. The architect has endeavoured to create an energy efficient building.
The lighting used is low power lighting; it doesn't consume huge amounts of energy.
It is an exciting space architecturally. It combines studios and other areas for design activity. The required functional aspects have been woven into an interesting and innovative space. The university is proud of the design details featured in the building.
There is a large amount of computer based work that takes place in the building. There are two laboratories that support the Graphics, Animation and Illustration programmes in Arts and Design. There is a very large open area for studio based CAD design - all design students are welcome to use this space but in reality it is usually used by Architectural Technology, Product Design and Engineering students. This comprises most of one floor, it is a big open space and is zoned off into mini little networks and students come in there for open access and workshop type activity with staff on hand. Activities often take place there simultaneously. There is a rapid prototyping unit adjacent to the Design Studio that allows us to create models for a variety of different purposes. On the top floor there is a microelectronics design laboratory facility. This is something that Bolton has done for quite a few years now - supporting the use of microelectronics in industry and has been a hub for this sort of activity for a number of years. Also on the top floor there is e-LaB (e-Learning at Bolton). E-LaB designs (in a pedagogical sense) web-based learning materials and supports the Web-CT virtual learning environment.
The ground floor houses the main university reception area which is the main focal point. There's been a lot of landscaping and as the building faces the town (the campus is right in the heart of Bolton) the reception area is the main welcoming point for students coming from the rail and bus stations.
Also on the ground floor there is a very large atrium area (3 storeys high) that can be used for display. The area has a very large projection screen (two storeys high) with a powerful projector - this is not working to its best potential currently but it is the intention that it will be used to display work by students and by artists from the local community. They did have some print facilities in there, including a continuous textile jet printer and large transfer printer but these have now been re-located as the intention is to use the ground floor atrium space as a social learning space. Recently this area has been looking quite sanitised and the creativity and design activities of the Design Studio are needed to be re-emphasised in this area - hence the vision of a permanent display area. It will be wireless networked, refreshments will be available to students (discussions are ongoing re refreshments being available via a staffed cafê area or vending machines). Students will be able to sit on comfortable seating and talk casually whilst working on laptops. This will be one of three social learning spaces available on campus that the University is about to create (due for completion this academic year: 2006-2007).
On the first floor there are walkways connecting through the atrium. There is a large open plan design studio with approx 70-75 PCs in there plus Macs. Also there is a PC lab on that floor for more formal class-based activities - demonstrations, etc. All work areas have got data projection and other associated technical facilities installed.
Next floor: two Mac labs for Graphics and Animation and a visualisation area where students can work on activities such as story-boarding - this area does not have so many PCs in it.
On the top floor - part of the roof is flat - with a grass lawn on it! The grass is part of a general approach by the University to maintain as much green space as possible in the campus, which is situated in the centre of a bustling town. The roof has another construction on it that houses the eLaB people and the Microelectronic design people - so there are a few more work areas up there. Adjacent to the Design Studio there are two rapi-prototyping units in the 3D modelling unit. There are a few meeting areas in the Design Studio that are often used for business meetings as there is a lot of liaison with companies in the product design area. One of the meeting rooms is set up for video conferencing and there is a small presentation area adjacent to the Design Studio for demonstration which can then lead to break outs into workshop activity. The views from the top floor are quite spectacular - the surrounding moors can be seen clearly.
The Design Studio is used quite extensively for external and community work - for instance at the time of the case study interview the atrium was hosting an exhibition produced as a result of an artist in residence in a local primary school. This is a modelling exhibition and the primary school children and their parents and school governors have visited the Design Studio to see their work on display. The Creative Industries Project Manager (Rebecca Allbrow) liaises with companies, organisations and groups of artists and invites them into the Design Studio either to see the space or give presentations. Maintaining a role for the Design studio in the local community is seen as key. One of the greatest challenges, linked to ERDF funding, is achieving the outputs which are based on assisting businesses in the North West to thrive by helping them to recruit new staff (job creation), helping them to retain existing staff by providing them with CPD and also improving their sales and productivity. More than half of the students at Bolton are part-time, including in the Design area, so this means that a lot of staff are being developed already and being supported by their companies in terms of fee paying, etc. Also with full-time students they've tried, in the product design area, to structure the timetabling so that students can take up real-life project briefs to assist companies. This has meant that there has been a move from the traditional two semester modules to a module delivery that is predicated upon short blocks running throughout the year leaving gaps between for students to work on extended projects. As projects come in they are matched up to individuals or groups of students who can work on them.
The University has appointed two research assistants to work full-time on projects for industry to encourage a better flow through of work. This is undertaken through an ERDF project which offers a Product Development Service to SMEs within the North West. To date over 13 companies have been assisted in this way, including the developers of the i-teddy concept, recently featured on TV's Dragon's Den.
