The competition brief called for an 'iconic' gateway building for the University campus.The challenge for the design team was to identify the 'values' to be signified and then to explore ways of expressing them. We eventually decided upon the following key drivers; town and gown, symbolism, social heart and sustainability.

With its close proximity to the Civic Quarter, and the commercial heart of the city, this strategic site literally acts a s a front door to the University, facilitating physical and symbolic links between 'town and gown'. Our response was to express the building as both 'portal' and 'piazza'. The building quite literally peeling back to reveal the top glazed gathering space. It is a form that is intended to also symbolise an open, progressive and innovative institution, as required by the brief. In endeavouring to express the local cultural context we explored analogies with the sculptural forms of Henry Moore, and local geological formations, as well as the idea of building as 'living art' - weathered by the flow of movement within. The building is also a social heart, a focus for social exchange, with a range of student services located on the primary concourse level as well as flexible teaching, seminar and study spaces above. Finally the proposal is underpinned by sustainable design principles including double skin facades that temper internal environments by capturing solar energy and redistributing it to where it is required, as well as the building form itself, which prevents excessive heat gains in the atrium.