Posted Thursday 26 April 2012
Dame Elizabeth Esteve-Coll, who led the V&A from 1987 to 1995, was welcomed back to the heart of the University's Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture for the special opening ceremony at its Knights Park campus.
The new centre is part of an £11 million improvement programme at Knights Park, which includes the refurbishment of studio space, an upgraded reception and gallery area and external landscaping. "The work represents a huge investment in the students and staff of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture and confirms the great importance we place on research and communication within our subject areas," acting Dean of the Faculty Dr Trevor Keeble said.
The Dame Elizabeth Esteve-Coll Centre is located in what used to be an outdoor courtyard at the centre of a 1930s quadrangle-shaped building at Knights Park. A glass roof has been built to enclose the area - designed to maximise light and create a spacious and airy place for study. Many original features have been retained, including the brickwork, terrazzo and structural frame. The brick walls which surrounded the former courtyard now form the internal walls of the new centre.
"At Knights Park we enjoy an excellent relationship with our highly dedicated information services team. To be able to name the new Centre after Dame Elizabeth, herself a former subject librarian at the University, is a great honour for us," Dr Keeble said. "As with all staff and students who have passed through the faculty over the years, we are extremely proud of her inspirational achievements."
The new Dame Elizabeth Esteve-Coll Centre, or 'Liz's Library' as Dame Elizabeth suggested it might be known, goes a stage further, incorporating an access technology room for disabled students and bookable student seminar rooms with media equipment for presentations. The new venue is already proving popular, attracting 28 per cent more students through its turnstiles since it opened last month. "Arts students have an individual and personal approach to interpreting the world around them. They need knowledgeable mentors and the latest equipment to access the triggers which can illuminate their personal vision," she said.
The staff's jobs had also changed significantly over the years, Miss Williamson said. "Once upon a time, every item that was taken from the libraries would have had to have been signed out by an assistant. Now most items are borrowed by students using our self-service machines leaving the staff free to concentrate on more complex queries," she added.
The new centre, designed by architects Pascall + Watson, boasts several sustainable features. The atrium roof allows rainwater to run off into underground storage tanks which is then used to flush the toilets. An array of solar thermal panels heats water and photovoltaic panels generate electricity. The building's sustainable features are designed to provide 20 per cent of its energy. Meanwhile, sections of the glass roof open and close automatically to make sure the temperature is controlled whatever the weather.
But one new feature of the centre took its inspiration directly from the 1950s. A time capsule buried at the campus in 1953 and excavated in 2011 at the beginning of the building work was reburied as part of the opening ceremony with some additional objects from the 21st Century.
12 November 2024
12 November 2024
11 November 2024