North Glasgow College - Buildings & Places

NGC

Date: 23 May 09
Author: Caroline Ednie, Web Editor
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North Glasgow College

RMJM were appointed by North Glasgow College in autumn 2005, to design and deliver a new-build college campus on a brownfield site immediately opposite their existing college, in the Springburn area of the city. The College delivers a diverse curriculum ranging from photography, fashion and jewellery making, through to business studies, sports, and construction and engineering trades such as car mechanics, bricklaying and joinery.

RMJM’s brief was to design a new distinct landmark building in a welcoming and open campus setting, which would offer modern flexible teaching and social facilities to increase potential for student learning, community access and lifelong learning. The campus is set into an area of the city that was severely blighted by the politics of the 60’s and 70’s social housing plans and that as a result is both ‘socially and physically re-engineered’.

The design solution for the 18,000m2 campus has been to split the accommodation into two parts: comprising a five storey main academic building; and a two storey technical/practical trades workshop block to the east of the site, in response to the requirements and constraints of the diverse teaching and support activities offered. This creates a very clear strategy in terms of curriculum delivery, spatial, acoustics and servicing requirements, as well as creating architectural tension and drama.

(Click on all images to enlarge)

Image: Copyright North Glasgow College

Accommodation has been pushed to the north of the site, which creates a generous south facing landscaped main entrance plaza, responding to students approaching from Springburn Road and the train station. A diagonal ‘cut’, on a north-south axial alignment, has been introduced into the urban block, with the cut-away area forming a new open public space orientated in a south-westerly direction. This area derives maximum benefit from mid-day and afternoon sun, and is activated and overlooked by spaces such as the café and main entrance. This plaza is hard landscaped with the black and white stripes introducing scale and interest, and includes bicycle stands, concrete benches and a row of cherry blossom trees.

The social space created by the plaza extends into the post tensioned concrete framed 5 storey academic building, which is centred around a full-height central atrium space accessed via a grand stair. This building is largely naturally ventilated and encompasses a sports hall, learning resource centre, lecture theatre, dance studio, TV studio , large wintergarden, and café, as well as various classrooms, meeting rooms, and admin areas. The atrium section has been modelled to allow the larger volume spaces, such as the lecture theatre and games hall, to project into it at various levels, with open-plan leaning spaces located above. This together with north facing rooflights, open circulation bridges, and various glazed screens, allows light to filter into the heart of the building, creating views and encouraging an interactive learning environment.

Image: Copyright North Glasgow College

Externally this block been detailed to create a very crisp, flush, high gloss façade, featuring anodised aluminium curtain walling, and invisibly fixed white glazed concrete rainscreen panels in a variety of sizes, and articulated in a staggered pattern to create a sense of human scale. Internally a simple palette of materials has been used to create a restrained interior, and include: exposed concrete; American white oak; white plasterboard; and beech framed glazed screens and acoustic panels. Colour has been limited to the window linings and corridor recesses.

The more industrial two-storey steel frame workshop building, which houses specialist workshops for construction and engineering technologies, is treated as a simple sinusoidal aluminium clad box, offset against the white sleek academic block. Sliding sinusoidal doors to the front façade allows this block to effectively ‘shutdown’ at night-time. The standing seam roofscape, visible from the upper levels of the academic block, has regular rows of rooflights for natural ventilation, and service penetrations are carefully concealed within the parapet.

Image: Copyright North Glasgow College

The £27 million campus, which opened in December 2008, is seen as an exciting new addition to the Springburn skyline and according to RMJM "reflects the direction and optimism that the college offers and inspires in its students and local area. The regeneration of the North of Glasgow is seen as key to city planners and politicians, and the new college will hopefully stimulate a new confidence in the area and a more human architecture."

The building has been shortlisted for a 2009 RIBA Award and in the Public Buildings category of the 2009 Scottish Design Awards.

Project: North Glasgow College
Architect: RMJM Scotland Ltd – Glasgow Office
Client: North Glasgow College
Location: Flemington Street, Springburn, Glasgow
Size: 18,000m2
Cost: £27M
Contract: Single stage Design and Build

Plans, sections and images: courtesy of RMJM Scotland Ltd