Aluminium-clad blocks used for University of Portsmouth's new architecture school building

The new architecture school building at the University of Portsmouth, England, is donning a suave, contemporary look, thanks to the designing expertise of architects from Penoyre & Prasad. Aluminium-clad blocks on concrete piers have been used for construction of this building around a landscaped courtyard.

The building provides a new home for the School of Architecture and Interior Design, flanking a new courtyard at the heart of the institution's city-centre campus. The facility has been built as part of a masterplan to improve connectivity between various campus buildings.

Glazed teaching spaces jut out above the entrance, continuing the line created by the curtain wall of an adjoining remodelled building. The openings in the northeast corner are surrounded by angled aluminium frames that reflect indirect light into the building.

Aluminium panels clad the upper levels, reflecting light back into the public space and offering a blank surface that can be used for visual projections. The roofs of the upper layers shift and fold back to form a series of terraces. A glazed five-storey atrium is located in a corner facing the courtyard. It contains a staircase leading up to the 200-seat lecture theatre, screening room and seminar rooms on the first floor.

Penoyre & Prasad's other educational projects include the tower of Guy's Hospital in London which has been updated recently by adding origami-like anodised aluminium cladding.