PROJECT
ULSTER UNIVERSITY BELFAST CAMPUS
FEILDEN CLEGG BRADLEY STUDIOS – LEAD ARCHITECT FOR UUB CAMPUS, DELIVERS A ‘WATERSHED’ MOMENT IN UK UNIVERSITY DESIGN…
LEAD AND CONSULTING ARCHITECT
M ulti-award winning architectural and urban design practice, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBStudios), was the lead and consulting architect for Ulster University new 15,000 student Belfast Campus. FCBStudios won the design competition to provide a multi-disciplinary team to design the entire campus 12 years ago; the role shifting to Compliance Monitor during the D+B construction programme Stephen Gallagher, Associate for FCBStudios, headed up the compliance monitoring team from the firm’s Belfast office. “The scale of this building required an architecture that is conceived and constructed as a piece of city landscape.” The focus of the campus is a sequence of integrated main routes, pedestrian streets and varied public spaces. “The overarching vision is to encourage students and locals to feel that the university is part of their city; that it belongs to them. We are already seeing that happening, with students using the
campus 24/7 and people visiting the campus to enjoy a coffee or lunch.” This is part of a shift in UK university development. “It’s not a detached world of academics sitting within an enclosed quad, or in a remote suburban location. The UUB campus is a genuinely fresh and forward-looking facility for the city. This feels very positive in terms of implementing physical and social transformation for this area of Belfast. “Obviously, there were challenges,” admitted Stephen. “The fact that we got the building delivered at all through the Covid-19 pandemic is a real testament to the fact that we managed to maintain positive relationships throughout the multi-disciplinary design teams and supply chain. “But moving beyond that, to see all the key moves and aspirations of our original vision maintained within the completed building, and it already becoming a well-used part of the city, is a delightful outcome.”
Photography by: Donal McCann
5 Commercial Court, Belfast, BT1 2NB T: +44 (0)28 9099 2760 - E: belfast@fcbstudios.com www.fcbstudios.com
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