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Roland Levinsky Building

BDP, Plymouth, 2007

 

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On the most prominent point of the site is the formally expressing arts faculty, rising to a tower of nine storeys on the corner of Drake street 

David Barbour (website)     Download Original

  • On the most prominent point of the site is the formally expressing arts faculty, rising to a tower of nine storeys on the corner of Drake street    
  • The east facade of the Roland Levinsky Building. This corner faces the city museum and library, and has a gallery on the ground floor    
  • The building    
  • The ribbon is perforated, seemingly at random, by windows on the two vertical planes    
  • The Cobourg Street facade. Entry is through fissures in the stone plinth, and a generous terrace overlooks the town    
  • On the most prominent point of the site is the formally expressing arts faculty, rising to a tower of nine storeys on the corner of Drake street    
  • The building is the badge for the campus, trumpeting its presence in the city    
  • The building is the badge for the campus, trumpeting its presence in the city    
  • The building at night. The coloured windows are vitrines for information posters.    
  • The central atrium. On the side are glass-walled studios for graphics and fine art    
  • Studio spaces for graphics and fine art are glazed to the strium and also get north light from the facade    
  • At the bottom of the atrium is an artwork by William Pye    
  • View from one of the tower    
  • Interior of one of the colour-coded auditoria    
  • Site plan    
  • Ground floor plan    
  • First floor plan    
  • Second floor plan    
  • Third floor plan    
  • Fourth floor plan    
  • Fifth floor plan    
  • Sixth floor plan    
  • Seventh floor plan    
  • Roof plan    
  • Section A-A    
  • Section B-B    
  • Heart concept    
  • Skyline sketch    
  • Development model    

Nine-storey, copper-clad arts education facility for Plymouth University

Inside, the building is arranged around a four-storey atrium, whilst the spaces in the tower were all conceived as open-plan studio or office spaces.

The building contains an array of arts activities, from a cinema, a theatre and two dance studios, to glass-walled fine arts and digital studios. The tower houses the architecture school, whilst space was set aside in the building for a public art gallery.

Danish architect Henning Larsens Tegnestue won the competition to design the arts faculty in 2004 from a strong UK shortlist which included Bennetts Associates, Foster + Partners and Ushida Findlay.

BDP took the project on from Stage D to completion, and while the building retains the form, materials and basic internal arrangement of HLT’s scheme, some changes were introduced to bring it within budget.

Data

  • Begun: Mar 2005
  • Completed: 2007
  • Floor area: 12,896m2
  • Sectors: Education, Arts and culture
  • Total cost: £24.7M
  • Tender date: Jun 2004
  • Address: Roland Levinsky Building, University of Plymouth, City Campus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, United Kingdom

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