Description

The William Gates Building is a striking structure of two parts. At the front it presents a tall temple-like portico, with an extended roof with high level glazing, and low level terracotta wand and cedar panelled walls. At the back the building is more solid, with planer terracotta walls, punctured with strong cedar lined window reveals.

The manner in which the three-storey building is divided into these two distinct areas largely defines the nature of the two main user groups - undergraduate students and postgraduate researchers. The undergraduates have access to the 'public' areas which include the lecture theatres, the reception and student office, the café and the courtyards. The three-storey 'street' access that runs through the building marks the division between the two functioning areas. The 'street' links with the secure research areas by means of connecting galleries and bridges, off which the vibrant staircases run. Beyond the 'street' there is a secure, 'private' zone which occupies the majority of the building, and is configured around enclosed courtyards.

The different zones of the building have different massing and materiality. The street is a three-storey airy space with rich detailing in solid hardwood and steel. At each end of the 'street' there is a three-storey glazed facade, in to which the café extends. Terracotta clad seminar rooms have panels peeled away to provide diffused light to the computer users. The lecture theatres are modest in scale, and are expressed as a cedar panelled box which extends beyond the bounds of the building envelope, close to the tall, slender columns which support the over-sailing roof. This treatment lends the building a sophistication and elegance that recalls Mies.