Exeter chooses stunning new central campus design

It is part of a £450 million capital investment programme which is designed to help propel Exeter into the top 10 UK universities by 2012.

Wilkinson Eyre’s proposals work with the natural features of Exeter's famously hilly main campus, creating a ‘green corridor’ connecting the Forum with the wider landscape. Central to the scheme is an undulating timber gridshell roof, which shelters and unifies a series of new student-focused spaces within. The fluid form contrasts with the orthogonal brick volumes of the existing buildings on this steeply sloping site, and respects key views across the city to Dartmoor.

David Allen, the University’s Registrar, said: ‘The University of Exeter has one of the finest campuses in the world; so it was vitally important to come up with a design which was both iconic and sympathetic to the landscape. Wilkinson Eyre have done a fantastic job of meeting this challenge. I am sure when it is built the Forum will be regarded as one of the finest buildings in the South West.’

More than 40 firms of architects expressed an interest in the project. Five went through to a design competition. Staff and students were asked for their views on the proposals and overwhelmingly chose Wilkinson Eyre. Pending planning permission, it is hoped to begin work in 2009 and complete the project by 2012.

Stafford Critchlow, Director of Wilkinson Eyre Architects, said: ‘Our proposals seek to create a new arrival point for the University. The sequence of spaces relate closely to the campus landscape, establishing a new architectural language which is less about placing objects within this landscape and more about an organic response to it.’

The University is being advised by Nick Mather, of construction consultancy firm Davis Langdon.

The University’s £450 million investment programme also includes an investment of £25 million in new Business School facilities, £18 million for Biosciences and a major investment in new student residences.

Notes to News Editors: For further information contact Stuart Franklin on 01392 263146 / 07789 942505.

Wilkinson Eyre Architects, with its portfolio of national and international award winning projects, is one of the UK's leading architectural companies. Uniquely, the practice has been awarded the highly prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize two years in succession: in 2001 for the Magna science adventure centre in Rotherham and in 2002 for the much acclaimed Gateshead Millennium Bridge. Current projects include a masterplan for the 14-hectare Apraksin Dvor district in central St. Petersburg, two conservatories for Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay, The Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth and Guangzhou West Tower, China, as well as a series of education projects ranging from schools to university buildings.

The University of Exeter is currently ranked 13th in the UK in The Times league table of universities. It is ranked fourth in the UK for student satisfaction amongst ‘full service’ universities, according to the National Student Survey. It was the 2007/08 Times Higher Education University of the Year.