New £19m teaching and learning facility to open at University of Warwick on Monday 17 October

New £19m teaching and learning facility to open at University of Warwick on Monday 17 October

Coventry, UK, 14-Oct-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — A multi-million pound brand new teaching and learning facility at the University of Warwick opens to staff and students on Monday 17 October.

The £19m flagship Teaching and Learning Building boasts two large, state-of-the-art lecture theatres and 14 top quality flexible teaching spaces. In addition to the latest technology to assist with teaching the building boasts a state of the art four-screen video wall in the central atrium.

Vice-President Lawrence Young said:

“This has been an exciting project which has involved both staff and students. The main focus has been to support the student experience and to provide a unique opportunity for us to explore innovative approaches to teaching and learning in a purpose built facility.”

Constructed in a key position on central campus, it is the first building on campus dedicated completely to teaching and learning in all disciplines and no one department or service owns the building.

One of the lecture theatres will be the largest on campus with 500 seats, and boasts a spectacular glass and timber roof with a huge range of charging point facilities for laptops and other devices. Of the 4 teaching rooms on the ground floor, 3 open out into the freshly landscaped area outside the building, providing a unique experience for those studying.

The building was designed by Berman Guedes Stretton who have received many architectural awards for their higher education projects, who worked with project planners Pick Everard and contractors Willmott Dixon to deliver the stunning landmark building.

In the central atrium is a four-screen video wall which will host a range of art displays, timetables of upcoming activity in the building and live-streams of lectures and other events in the main lecture theatres. There are high-tech features elsewhere in the building, with electronic screens outside each room showing availability and interactive digital boards to help with wayfinding.

Audio visual Technical Advisor Ian Mason said:

“The stunning atrium video wall is part of a suite of audio visual technology designed to enhance both the function and appeal of the building. For this project, the Learning Spaces & Collaborative Environments team have worked to provide staff and students with a consistent and modern technology experience to help enhance teaching and learning. Touch panel control, visualisers, high capacity WiFi, wireless presentation and Lecture Capture is available in every room, as well as live room availability displayed outside each bookable space. This building symbolises Warwick’s commitment to the ongoing development of quality teaching and learning environments and sets a new standard for future developments on campus.”

Mary Courtney, artist in residence at the University has been working closely with Professor Patrick Unwin from the Warwick Chemistry department and other chemists to collate and create chemistry-art or ‘chem-art’. The art features corroding metals, prescription drugs and brain scans at a microscopic level.

Working with technical advisor Ian Mason from the University’s Audio Visual team they have presented research in a way that is both visually appealing and thought provoking in the buildings central atrium. Using the latest in display technology this interdisciplinary collaboration brings the often unseen beauty of the microscopic world to life.

Mary Courtney, Leverhulme Trust Artist in Residence with the Chemistry Department said,

“These images of chemistry as art have never been seen in public before; it’s a great excitement that their debut is to be on a big high definition screen, a digital gallery of the future where science is presented as art. New chemistry-art, a new concept for the launch of a new building”

For this project, the video wall acts as a window on research and is a collaboration between science, art and technology which showcases creativity in chemistry using a digital medium in a modern and accessible way. Students and academics of all disciplines using the new cutting edge building can view and enjoy the display.

The new Teaching and Learning Building sets the benchmark for future campus developments. In addition to the continual ongoing work to enhance facilities around campus future projects include a £40 million project to create new state of the art sport and wellness facilities by October 2018 as part of the university’s approach to creating an active campus community.

Contact:

Alex Buxton: Media Relations Manager, University of Warwick

Tel: 02476 150423
Mob: 07876 218166
E: a.buxton.1@warwick.ac.uk

SOURCE: University of Warwick