Alexi Marmot to speak on Bath Spa University’s uncommon Commons

How are university buildings evolving to accommodate new ways of teaching and learning? Alexi Marmot will be addressing this question when she speaks at next month’s Education Estates conference in Manchester http://www.educationestates.com/conference/

Alexi will describe how AMA helped to articulate and deliver a new vision for the Commons building at Bath Spa University. Design Director David Jenkin led the interior strategy, consultation and design. Commons is a fascinating, flexible and innovative new facility. Designed by Cube Design and opened in 2014 by David Puttnam, it is the university’s largest building at 8,000 sq m and the hub of the Newton Park campus.

Lord Puttnam opening the Commons building
Source: bathspa.ac.uk

Commons was conceived as a different type of university building. Providing learning, teaching and meeting spaces, staff work bases and major specialist digital studios, it needed to be highly flexible, fit for the current and next generation of students and staff.

Different furniture and space types encouraging a range
of activities

The university recognised that a different approach was needed for the shell and the interior, says Alexi: “Both architectural and interior workstreams maintained an inventive and collaborative approach, allowing each to focus on their different domains: one on the building fabric to create a robust shell, naturally ventilated, energy efficient, and the other on end users and anticipating future change in university activities.”

Spaces encouraging collaborative working

The new building represents quite radical change for the university.  Staff and students share the same building, and many of the same facilities. Academic staff work in a club-type zone with few conventional workplaces, none individually owned. Elsewhere, teaching rooms are interspersed with breakout and group study areas in local hubs. Interactive group learning spaces, individual and quiet study areas, are provided generously on the ground floor alongside a design lab, recording studio, and large flexible conference room.

Part contained spaces provide some intimacy

“The new building was immediately popular with students following its launch in mid-2014,” says Alexi, “and is full of their energy and enthusiasm.” Commons was a runner-up in the Buildings that Inspire category of the Guardian’s University Awards this year http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/mar/19/buildings-that-inspire-category-award-winner-and-runners-up

Bath Spa University 'Commons' Opening

AMA would like to congratulate Bath Spa University on the opening of its new ‘Commons’ teaching building on Thursday 4 June. The event exhibited art installations, dance, theatre and music performances by students and alumni. The building was formally opened by film producer Lord David Puttnam who, in his speech, paid tribute to the strength of the British design industry and credited the new building with enabling the new generations of British designers to maintain our position in the world.

AMA worked closely with the University to develop interior spaces of the ‘Commons’ that would generate enthusiasm for both students and staff. Social learning spaces on the ground floor which incorporate open and quiet positions, have already proved to be extremely popular. Read more about the ceremony and the Newton Park Campus development by clicking the links.

The Changing Nature of Academic Workspace

200,000 academic staff in UK universities typically work in office space that differs significantly from the rest of the country’s offices. Most academics work, surrounded by books and papers, in their own enclosed individual offices or in small group offices.  By contrast, the majority of office-based employees in the rest of the economy work in open offices shared with many other people, and very few books or files. Is this difference essentially due to the special nature of academic work? Do academics really need individual offices, or should they use shared offices like most other office workers?

This was hotly debated at a recent seminar hosted by AMA Alexi Marmot Associates attended by around 30 academics and estates professionals from sixteen UK universities, where issues of status, academics wish to personalise their workspace and to store many books and papers, the importance of a sense of belonging, the influence of changing student requirements, the role of interdisciplinary, and the importance of consultation when changing academic workspace were discussed, among several other topics. 

A report which summarises the discussion is now available here. 

Learning about our unique approach to sustainable space

On 18th September, AMA led a 'Sustainable Southwark Walkabout' during Green Sky Thinking Week 2012.  This exciting initiative run by Open City explored aspects of sustainable development. A group comprised of sustainability experts, facilities managers, engineers, architects, designers and students visited two of our projects – an office building and a library – to learn how we use space utilisation analysis and targets to reduce property footprints and provide creative ways to reuse buildings better.

One visitor said: 'What was notable to the success of the sustainability was...engaging with the people who use the buildings...and what a difference the use of light and textures can make to how you feel within the building.'

For more information click here.

Copyright © Open City 2012

Design for knowledge transfer

Alexi Marmot presented 'Maximising Workplace Interaction: design for knowledge transfer' on Thursday 26th April 2012.  This presentation was organised by the Facilities Management Association and hosted by Condeco, Herman Miller and AMA. You can watch a video of it here.