Russell Brown admires MCW Architects’ new campus for Northampton University

Buildings.

The Waterside Campus is proof, if any is still needed, that to build a good project you need a great client. The driving force behind the University of Northampton’s new campus has been Terry Neville, chief operating officer, who previously worked with its architect, MCW, at the University of Hertfordshire. There, MCW created a series of buildings that have transformed the unpromising precincts of the former Hatfield Polytechnic.

MCW has been working with the University of Northampton since 2011, establishing the feasibility of moving the majority of the university’s activities to a new site, which has been (mostly) vacated by the Avon cosmetics company. Despite being 24 hectares of largely brownfield land, it was already a wonderful place; set among the remains of the railyard (the grade-II-listed trainshed has become the students’ union) it lies directly across the River Nene from Northampton town centre, with romantic views of a narrowboat basin, swans and water meadows.

Buildings.

MCW’s masterplan sets a strong framework for these first buildings, with plans for a good deal of future development. The brief from the university was to challenge the existing management structure and to base the building designs around the typology of space, rather than any notion of departments. The aim was to break down the typical subject ‘silos’, enhance cross-disciplinary working and as a result, maximise space utilisation.

The architects describe their thinking about space as moving from “owned space to shared space”. The original proposal was (logically) for a single megastructure providing all the campus facilities under a single roof, but this has evolved into three buildings: the Learning Hub, Creative Hub and the Senate.

MCW designed the new-build Learning Hub and the students’ union, along with pedestrian and road bridges and an energy centre. All these designs are evidently well thought out, with the architects having been able to carry through their masterplan thinking to the detailed design, including the linking landscape by Land Use Consultants.

Buildings.

The centrepiece of the western area is the Learning Hub. It offers a dizzying range of spatial types and experiences, from quite a simple plan forming a long ‘bar’ of mostly cellular space linked by an atrium to a more three-dimensional form that directs the main masterplan route and offers a clear, welcoming entrance to the main pedestrian route, across the pedestrian bridge.

I spoke to students and the main building user client, and everyone seems to be quickly finding their way around. They enjoy finding their own place in the floor plans, be it quiet or noisy, secluded or beside a busy cafe, with or without an external view. The roof decks and secure external spaces are working well (despite the weather), and students drag furniture and cushions out onto the grass.

Buildings.

At the time of my visit the building had been in use for six weeks, and there was a lot of space between the furniture. MCW imagines that money will be found for more chairs and sofas as the building becomes more crowded as exams approach. The furniture would have benefitted from some control by the architect, as the patterns, colours and fabrics are a little distracting. A more coordinated colour scheme would have helped unify some of the layout of the spaces and help with wayfinding.

The external skin of the Learning Hub has a pleasing variety of rhythms that are well integrated with an intelligent landscape design. The building volumes are broken down to express the different forms, in response to the planners’ vision of a more fragmented ensemble. (They were not supportive of the original plan for a single megastructure).

The new pedestrian bridge, designed by MCW with engineer CH2M (now Jacobs), is a wonderful starting point for the campus. Picking up an existing, low-key route from the city centre, it winds poetically between trees on the riverbank, taking its time to line you up with a direct view of the front door of the Learning Hub. Its low-tech mix of timber and steel complements the greens of the tree-lined river, and it is a rarity among architect-designed bridges in that it seems entirely appropriate.

The landscape picks up the route from the bridge and gently transforms from the municipal discipline of the city centre planting to a more European, contemporary feel that creates external spaces that reinforce the geometry of the new buildings. The landscape architect also found places for a collection of sculptures that the university owned that reinforce the links to the history of the site.

The building, and its management, has not yet been ‘road-tested’ for a full academic year, but the idea of totally breaking down any departmental structure, including all open-plan academic office space, is a great step forward in focussing university buildings on the convenience and experience of users, rather than the ease of operation.

When is a library not a library? In a lively debate with the lead user client, Chris Powis, he explained that this building is a learning space that has books in it, and not a library per se. The Learning Hub provides the best of both worlds: it has all the technology the students could possibly need while offering the alternative of reading magazines or books on paper. Somewhat to the architects’ surprise, the seating in carrels between the book stacks is one of the most popular places students choose to work.

The teaching rooms, all entirely transparent to the major public spaces so that the students could see what they are getting, appeared to be packed with activity. Students are seemingly able to find places to find their friends and colleagues, and places to work that suit them. Overall the building is deliberately non-hierarchical, populist and user-friendly.

And the masterplan will fill out with new buildings and new users. With such a strong start and wonderful setting, what could go wrong? What is important is that the original architect has a major role in maintaining the quality of the next phase of buildings, so that they reinforce the masterplan and match the qualities established by the Learning Hub.

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Credits

Architect and masterplanner
MCW Architects
Learning Hub, Engine Shed, Sports Facilities, Energy Centre architect
MCW Architects
Creative Hub, Senate and Logistics Centre architect
Atkins (design), CPMG Architects (delivery)
Residential architect
Stride Treglown

Curtain wall, doors
Schueco
Fibre cement rainscreen
Marley Eternit Natura
Metal rainscreen
Kingspan, Benchmark Quadroclad
Brick
Wienerberger