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Right The double-height toplit space at the heart of the five-

storey building is the circulation hub for ground and first floors, and

intended to be used for informal learning and events.

Business schools are good for business – thebusiness of universities, that is. This is partlybecause these institutes are thought, by manypotential students, to offer a safe return ontheir higher education investment, so placesare easy to fill. Business courses are also rela-tively cheap to provide; unlike architecturestudents, business students are tidy, compli-ant and undemanding of resources. The con-sequence of all this is that almost no Britishuniversity has passed up the opportunity tocreate its own business ‘powerhouse’ so it toocan enjoy a return on investment.

Second only to law, the presence of a typicalbusiness school within a university campus isexpected to imbue a sense of permanence,respectability and relevance. Their architec-tural language often imitates the City ratherthan academia, reconciling executive coolwith the buzzy marketplace. Yet the creationof environments where genuine interactionand social learning thrive remains the twenty-first century university’s Holy Grail.

Hawkins Brown, architect of a new businessschool at Kingston University, is a crusader in this field and has brought a successful setof techniques developed in residentialdesign, mixed-use developments and civicarchitecture into higher education. Itsapproach steers away from complexity. It embraces repetition as a framework; hold-ing compositions of simple elements that are

Rod McAllister admires a facultybuilding whose sober expressionbelies an easy informality in use.Photographs: Hufton & Crow.

BUILDING

Hawkins Brown: KingstonUniversity Business School

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AT235 • 2926 • AT235

Kingston Hill campus had defined the formof the proposed school in its place: a four-storey rectangular doughnut. Nicola Rutt,project associate at Hawkins Brown, explainsthat the practice advised the university to adda storey, and gained approval with this mass-ing. By doing so, much of the programmewas loosened up and charming views acrossthe valley were exploited. The architect wasalso able to resolve circulation across thesteeply sloping site by creating open bridgeand terrace access at several levels. Hence,the business school became a true ‘hub’, andevery elevation is a front elevation.

The concept is classic Kahnism and theplan is a development from two lines of sym-metry. As in all the best markets, cellularity isstructured around an open court. The formmay be formal but movement is free.

It is common for teaching areas to be locat-ed on the lower levels of university buildings,

Plans 1 Entrance, 2 informal learning,

3 lecture theatre, 4 classroom, 5 office,

6 server room, 7 computer room, 8 existing

lecture theatre, 9 moot court room,

10 meeting room, 11 boardroom,

12 doctoral student room, 13 plant,

14 staff social space, 15 roof terrace.

deliberately punctuated at strategic points todelight and orientate.

The site of Kingston University’s newBusiness School had previously been occu-pied by a dull, two-storey hall of residence.John McAslan & Partners’ masterplan of the

The largest lecture and event spaces aretucked into the hillside with a slightly regret-table absence of daylight as a result – thoughit’s a matter on which business schools dis-agree: some, such as London BusinessSchool, insist on daylight and views from lec-ture rooms, while at the University of ChicagoBooth School, for example, Rafael Viñolydeliberately buried the lecture rooms to insu-late them from noise and distraction.

Student support is scattered throughout –each point occupying a roller-shuttered‘shop’ unit. Double-access, glazed meetingcabins provide an acoustic buffer betweenthe forum and the open-plan support staffoffices. Conservative business school academ-ics are almost unique in successfully resistingthe drive for open-plan working, and at

Above left Leaf pattern watermark in

anodised aluminium cladding.

Above Main entrance. The top floor is set

back to reduce the impact on views from

houses beyond the campus. All four

elevations are of a mottled purple and

brown brick, chosen in response to the

leafy setting. Deeply recessed windows with

internal blinds provide solar shading. The

building is rated BREEAM Excellent. Other

notable features include a sedum roof and

rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing.

A remote well field provides 80 per cent of

the building’s heating energy and 60 per

cent of its cooling via ground source heat

pumps. The building meets an air leakage

target of 3.5 m3/h/m2 set by the university.

The large teaching rooms are naturally

ventilated up to a certain temperature,

when the windows close automatically and

comfort cooling is activated. The atrium is

naturally ventilated.

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leaving the academics free to occupy the‘ivory towers’ above. To some extent this istrue of the Kingston Business School, but, thetopography and brief called for a blend ofspaces so students and staff can be seen work-ing in all corners. The surprisingly variedarrangements of teaching and office spacesare served from circulation routes that gripthe edge of the central covered courtyard inalmost all cases. There are only three fleetinginstances of double-sided corridor linkinginformal learning areas. Stair cores are robustand considered, as is evident in neatlyrecessed lighting in the stairwell soffits.

The late decision to extend the university’sbrief to include a covered but daylit courtyardand cafe has proved pivotal to the success ofthe project. A central, non-timetabled‘forum’ is essential to the business schoolethos. This simple, cloistered space is cappedby an in-situ concrete grid and populatedwith sculptural timber study-bars-cum-balconies at gallery level. The colours may becorporate but these informal benches trans-form the circulation space into a linear lean-ing commons. It may just be coincidence thatthe cranked, timber box-beam stair rises fromleft to right like a healthy profit projection.

Ground floor

First floor

Second floor

Third floor

Fourth floor

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30 • AT235

Hawkins\BrownFormed in 1988 by Roger Hawkins andRussell Brown, the London-based office has15 partners and over 80 staff. Key projectsinclude the New Art Exchange inNottingham, the new biochemistry buid-ing at Oxford University and the ongoingrenovation of Park Hill in Sheffield.

Project teamArchitect: Hawkins\Brown; design team: Russell Brown (project director, ph: KatieHyams), Nicola Rutt (project associate, ph:KH), Petr Kalab (project architect, designstages and detailed design), Donna Walker(project architect, detailed design anddelivery), Alice Cutter, Michael Hammock,David Lomax; structural engineer: URS,Campbell Reith (precast frame only); serv-ices engineer: Hurley Palmer Flatt; civilengineer: URS Scott Wilson; project man-agement: MACE; contractor: WatesConstruction; sustainability consultant:

Rod McAllister is a design director at

Sheppard Robson, where his current projects

include the expansion of the London

Business School. He is a member of the

Higher Education Design Quality Forum.

Kingston, the academic staff occupy narrow,single or double cells, glazed at both ends.

A partly secluded penthouse level on theset-back fourth floor includes offices, plantand a sunny staff room with a roof terrace onthe south-east corner. The local authorityconsidered a proposed envelope of bronzepanels, matching those below, to be too blingat this level, so the finish is matt. Nevertheless,the result is fresh and clubby.

On the main elevations, deeply revealedbrickwork lends a gravitas that comes withbulk. The resultant shadows and silky bronzebars of cladding are elegant and memorable.An alternative arrangement of glazing couldhave easily been ‘hit and miss’ but, instead,the relentlessness of the elevations exudes asober confidence similar to that one oftenadmires in German and Swiss architecture.Soft, leaf-motif ‘watermarks’ anodised intothe panelling act as almost imperceptiblemarkers of authenticity.

At just over £17 million, the constructionrepresents extraordinary value for moneyand avoids many of the tell-tale signs of valueengineering that is the reality of contempo-rary procurement. In the ruthlessly analysedleague of business schools, Kingston hasstolen a march on its competitors.

Above Informal learning space is

distributed throughout the 7,290 square

metre building in the form of open ‘lounge’

areas off circulation routes, and window

seats and laptop bars between the bays

surrounding the central court. Teaching

spaces are on all floors except the top, and

include a 150-seat lecture theatre, a 120-

seat classroom. Capacities of other

teaching and computer rooms range from

12 to 80 occupants. Academic offices, a re-

search suite and small teaching rooms are

on the upper floors overlooking the atrium.

Cyril Sweett; planning consultant: NathanialLichfield & Partners; cost consultant: SenseCost Consultancy; access consultant: Assent;soft landscape designer: Skidmores; acousticsconsultant: BSRIA; client: Kingston University.

Selected suppliers and subcontractorsBrickwork subcontractor: Rosedale Brickwork;windows, external doors, atrium rooflights:anodised aluminium Schüco profiles by DaneArchitectural Systems; roofing system:Radmat Building Products; internal joinery:Stortford Interiors; exposed concrete andconcrete structure: Getjar; brick: Freshfieldsselected dark stock; cladding to top floor,canopies, bridge, portico: Reider, Fibre C,sandblasted Ferro; paint: Dulux; floor tiles:Terra by Domus; carpet: Interface Reprise/Restore; linoleum: Forbo; lighting: Thorn(interior), Zumtobel (external); insulation:Kingspan; timber cladding to atrium:TopAkustik type29/3 oak veneer; internaldoors: SAS.

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