Welsh School of Architecture

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Facts

Location	Client	Cost	Size	Completion
Cathays Park, Cardiff	Cardiff University	£9.7m	7600m2	March 2022

Project details

The major renovation and expansion of the Welsh School of Architecture within the Grade II Listed Bute Building to create a new home for the Centre for Well Informed Design, Research and Education in the Built Environment (WIDER-BE). The project is an exemplar of passive, sustainable refurbishment and provides an aspirational new identity for the WSA. Our design introduces flexible dynamic studio working, bringing together tutorial, critique and exhibition space with access to workshops and social areas.

The key to our approach was developing a thorough understanding of how the original building was designed by Sir Percy Thomas and then introducing targeted, light-touch interventions to optimise the flexible use of spaces, whilst taking advantage of natural ventilation and daylight rather than adding more layers of technology that make the building complicated to operate and maintain.

The Bute Building has been our home since our inception in 1920, and so this is the perfect way for us to celebrate more than 100 years of existence. As the adaptation of an historic building, this refurbishment embodies the School’s long-held ethos of sustainability. We hope it will foster creativity and collaboration, incubating new ways of thinking, researching, learning, writing and making Architecture for decades to come
Dr Juliet Davis, Head of the Welsh School of Architecture

Brief

consolidate and expand the Welsh School of Architecture to create a new Centre for Well-informed Design, Education and Research in the Built Environment (WIDER-BE) within the Grade II listed Bute Building.
Work within a fixed budget and phased programme to ensure continuity of teaching
Provide flexible teaching environments that can adapt to changing pedagogies

Results

a new ‘front door’ to the school with enlivened identity
Flexible hybrid teaching studio, new showpiece exhibition hall, ‘Living Lab’ to strengthen links between academia, local communities and industry practice and expanded workshop facilities
Future-proofing the historic Bute Building for future generations of aspiring architects in Wales
Education Building Wales Awards 2023 - winner of 'Education Refurbishment of the Year 2023' and highly commended 'Inspiring Learning Environments'.