Universities and Modern Architecture: A Symbiotic Relationship

Universities and Modern Architecture A Symbiotic Relationship
Universities are learning that impressive architecture can woo students and give a new identity.

This is architecture as a marketing tool. As architect Rick Mather points out, "a defined architectural identity goes with a defined academic identity". Mather, who has worked on new master plans at the universities of East Anglia, Lincoln and Southampton, believes the campuses with the most architectural character and coherence from the building boom of the 1960s are the most memorable. The UEA's uncompromising ziggurats rising from the flat Norfolk plains say something about its pioneering status. More people have an image of Sussex's landscaped contours and warm, listed, brick buildings than, say, Lancaster or Essex.

That message seems to be filtering through - to university publicity departments at least. An online tour reveals "landmark" buildings cropping up on campuses all over the country. Surrey's new health and medical sciences building; Plymouth's medical school, Sheffield's chemistry department and Newcastle's Devonshire Building all aspire to be more than big boxes containing smaller boxes of lecture halls and labs. "On the whole, I think academic buildings in the sector are of a pretty high quality, and are cared about," says Paul Finch, acting chairman of the government's Commission for Architecture and the Buil