October 9 2024

The University of Glasgow has revealed details of the next phase of its campus masterplan with proposals for purpose-built student accommodation.

Stallan-Brand has proposed a new addition to the university's Western Campus on the key intersection of Dumbarton Road and Church Street - home to the recently demolished Pontecorvo Building by Basil Spence.

Gingerly stepping around the B-listed Anderson College building, integrating at street level with a newly formed courtyard accessible directly from Dumbarton Road via a gated pend. Active ground floor uses such as a lounge, lobby and commercial space bring life to the street, with particular attention given to the corner profile with a chamfered profile, intended as a 'grand inflected gesture' emphasising the building's civic nature.

Outlining their design approach the architects wrote: "The buildings have been developed to create a strong sense of hierarchy. This combines an articulated ground floor containing a mix of building entrances, commercial spaces and courtyard gateways with a more ordered upper level comprised of pairs of bedrooms.

"A distinction is expressed between formal street-facing stone facades and more informal brick facades to the courtyards."

Complementary brown and blonde stone cladding will help break down the massing of the block, designed to be read from the street as a sequence of load-bearing piers and spanning lintels through pre-cast elements, deep reveals and expressive jointing.

8 Comments

#1 Posted by David on 9 Oct 2024 at 12:52 PM

lovely...if it turns out as good as it looks that is...

#2 Posted by Raibeart on 9 Oct 2024 at 13:40 PM

Started off in the Pontecorvo, and ended up in Anderson College. The Western Campus already looking very good & great to see the University investing in its future. Looking forward to seeing this happen.

#3 Posted by spike on 9 Oct 2024 at 17:42 PM

Agree with above, it will be great to see this materialise

#4 Posted by Lovely on 9 Oct 2024 at 19:21 PM

It looks alright but a bit of a strange London vibe on that corner.

Meanwhile the rest of the new campus is reasonably well put together but very anodyne bordering on the un-human, especially late at night.

#5 Posted by Gay Gordon on 10 Oct 2024 at 09:17 AM

While aesthetically 'ok' the problem with most of these big new blocks on this site is the lack of edge activity. Based around a single prime entrance for each block, whole street frontages are left 'dead' and uninviting...the streets, paths and pavements just doorless corridors. This contributes significantly to the "un-human, especially late at night" quality noted by #4 above.

#6 Posted by Roddy on 11 Oct 2024 at 14:14 PM

Lovely

#7 Posted by A wise young man on 11 Oct 2024 at 16:30 PM

Great to see some solid stone new builds - hope this isn't scrapped at tender.

Would be great to have a more interesting ground floor. Parts are even hostile to passersby

#8 Posted by Lovely on 11 Oct 2024 at 21:52 PM

Unfortunately you won’t see any solid stone, you may get thin real stone cladding if you’re lucky.

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