SDA 2022 Entries

• Landscape + Public Realm - The space around, between and within buildings that is publicly accessible, including streets, squares, parks and open spaces. These areas and settings support or facilitate public life and social interaction. 

Now open, The University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) stunning new £60 million Student Centre and University Square will become the focal point of the Preston Campus where the city’s first public square for 70 years will become a place for students and local communities to come together and enjoy many University and public events.
A real focal point of the designed aesthetics of the Square itself were the bespoke benches and also the patterned walling that runs adjacent to the Student Centre. Preston-trained artist and sculptor Halima Cassell (who in 2021 was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours) was commissioned to design a series of applied ‘Industrial Art’ works based on her enduring interest in 3D tiling repeat patterns. Integrated directly into the actual design fabric of the public realm, these designs have formed the decorative embellishments to the granite used in retaining the ‘Miley Tunnel’ walling on Rodney Street and integrated seating sited around the university’s new square. These beautifully bespoke new benches were created collaboratively, with the artist working closely with Hardscape’s sister company IP Surfaces and the client team on a series of initial hand-drawn sketches which were re-interpreted to CAD-based setting-out drawings, from countless sampling of materials’ trialling methods of designs with IP Surfaces to establish if it were even possible to recreate the patterns technologically.
IP Surfaces were able to demonstrate that ‘anything is possible’ and pursued Halima’s vision to re-create her intricate patterns into 3D drawings in their state-of-the art facilities utilising production techniques such as CNC waterjet, laser-etched and sandblasting techniques, together with hand-skilled masons to create incredibly unique, bespoke, sculptured, surface-embellished features, to adorn the surroundings of University Square.
At night, the area celebrates the city’s proud heritage with motion sensitive ‘light threads’, designed by Jason Bruges Studio, symbolising cotton strands, embedded into the natural stone granite paving, creating a stunning illuminated pathway, guiding visitors from the Square, through the Student Centre and into the main campus.
The new development is the culmination of UCLan’s Masterplan project, launched in 2015, which set out a vision to create a state-of-the-art, sustainable campus for students, staff, visitors, and surrounding communities for years to come.
University Square - total including Student Centre - £57m
Project completed July 2021 – IP Surfaces benches and walling produced and installed by June 2021.

The material used for the patterned walling was Kobra and Crystal Black granites with a combination of flamed, honed and polished waterjet-cut elements which gave a really striking contrast and dramatic aesthetic to the finished wall. For the benches IP Surfaces used their 5-Axis CNC using a router tool and then had stone masons finishing it off using manual hand cutters before it went into a sandblasting container to remove any saw marks. IP Surfaces went through many surface-embellishment processes to arrive at these finishes which, in collaboration with the artist, Halima Cassell, became a proven triumph for what can be made possible when vision becomes a reality.

IP Surfaces’ sister company Hardscape also supplied all the paving at University Square consisting of Kobra, Royal White and some Crystal Black paving.

University Square, (UCLan), Preston – 4.5 tco2

Not really issues as such but certainly challenges! With Halima’s visionary ideas of her patterns and designs, IP Surfaces were determined to make her dream a reality and went through many trials and tests to achieve the ‘hand carved appearance’ for the benches in particular with incredible attention to the surface shape, texture and finish. A testament to the collaboration involved and the combination of human skill, ingenuity, and technological advancement with stone material manipulation techniques.

IP Surfaces sister company also supplied the granite steps and internal flooring to the dramatic atrium which forms the social heart of the Student Centre. This inspiring space is aligned to the spire of St Peter’s Church. It will be a social space in itself, but can also be used for informal performances, talks or events.

https://uclanmasterplan.co.uk/project/student-centre-and-university-squares/