- Location
- Loughborough University
Richard Morris Building, De Monfort University
A new £2.55m extension to the growing School of Business and Economics at Loughborough University houses academic and lecturing facilities for postgraduate courses, including the prestigious MBA.
The improvements feature a reception space, breakout areas, academic offices and a suite of lecturing facilities. . The design also makes full use of a two-metre descent across the site to incorporate the lecture facilities at lower ground floor level, overlooking the existing sports pitches.
The existing building is a landmark at the main entrance of the campus, and the new scheme builds upon this status whilst maintaining a degree of aesthetic autonomy to reflect its discrete function. As a result, the design extrapolates the curvilinear geometry of the original, but adopts a very different elevation treatment.
We developed a low-energy strategy for the building, in partnership with Loughborough University, which is naturally ventilated and fully lit by daylight. Solar gain is minimised through by using a variety of passive shading techniques, developed through an in-depth study of 3D sun path modelling before the design was finalised.