Smart Innovation Hub, Keele University

This flagship building, which is part of university’s wider masterplan, is simple and compact in form and highly visible. It has been integrated into the site’s natural topography, and offers a lower as well as an upper ground and first floor, providing innovation spaces, offices, incubator pods, a tiered lecture theatre and atrium space comprising a business lounge, social learning and cafe. The project brings together the university with the wider community, and spaces are shared between the Keele Business School and business incubator spaces Innovation Centre 6. Staffordshire blue brick, which is used for the exterior alongside timber cladding for the entrance, references local vernacular and some of the campus buildings.

Architecture, Acoustics, Landscape Architecture