New Arts Building: A-Z
A
- Academic Studio
The academic studio or shared academic office space is in the middle of each departmental cluster. The academic studio is illuminated by large floor to ceiling windows. The studio comprises long tables with allocated spaces, chairs and desk units. There are lockers and shelves in the studio for storage.
- Agora
The building has a large atrium, which is known as the Agora. The Agora is an entry way, meeting place, performance and exhibition area and the cafe is also located in this area. A set of large beautiful wooden stairs, colloquially known as the "elephant steps", lead up from the Agora to the mezzanine with an intriguing vista though a proscenium archway. The "elephant steps" double as seats and are used informally as spaces to meet and hang out, but more formally as spaces for an audience to sit and watch events or other FAB happenings. Look up from the ground floor Agora space and you will see the "Harry Potter" staircases that criss-cross the void above your head.
- Antiquities Room
The Antiquities Room is one of the departmental specialist spaces in the FAB. It is to be found on level 2 and belongs to the Department of Classics and Ancient History.
- Architects
The Architects for the building were FeildenCleggBradley Studios
- Artwork
There is a large scale ceramic mural adjacent to the entrance to the new building. These are some of the tiles that were used for the mural.
The University commissioned the artist Matthew Raw to work with the tile manufacturers NBK to make a group of tiles for the ground floor exterior of the new Arts Building. The title of the piece is Faith in the Miraculous. The piece is intended to signal the creative power of the staff and students in the building.
Matthew was artist in residence at the V&A and has researched the ceramic history of Coventry and in particular, the ceramics of the post-war period. His focus for the commission draws on that sense of the future that the post-war art of the city tried to express. Matthew visited the campus to talk to staff and students to draw on their ideas and imagery to inform the work as well as working with school children and the local community.
B
- Building Contractors
The contractors for the new building were Bowmer & Kirkland.
C
- Cinema and Screening Rooms
The Cinema and Screening Rooms are some of the specialist teaching spaces belonging to Film & Television Studies in SCAPVC and are located on the ground floor and mezzanine level.
Film & Television Studies offers cinema-standard facilities in its screening rooms, which are also equipped with 35mm and 16mm film projectors alongside DVD and Blu-Ray and other television and media equipment.
- Classics and Ancient History
The Department of Classics and Ancient History is located on level 2 of the new building.
- Cluster
The building floorplate breaks into four distinct clusters, or quadrants, from Level 2 upwards. Floors 2 to 5 are made up of 4 distinct clusters. On floor 6, there is 1 cluster. Depending on the size of the department, the departmental space in the building may occupy from 1 - 3 of the clusters on one or more floors.
- Commencement Ceremony
The Faculty celebrated the building commencement ceremony on the 19 November 2019. It marked the occasion with speeches, poetry and a libation ceremony to the Nine Muses, Apollo and the classical gods provided by staff and students from the Department of Classics and Ancient History. A time capsule was also buried in the foundations of the building.
- Completion Date
The building was completed on 30 September 2021. The building opened to staff and students on the 6 December 2021.
- Cost
The building was completed within the budget of £57.5 M.
E
- Energy Efficiency Rating
The building has been designed to achieve an EPC A rating. The project is aiming to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.
- English and Comparative Literary Studies
The Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies is located on floor 5.
F
- Film & Television Studies
The academic offices for Film & Television Studies in SCAPVC are located on level 1 of the new building.
- Floor Plan
The new building is 8 floors high.
Ground Floor
Café; generic student social learning spaces; communal atrium, events and exhibition space; 2 x lecture theatres; teaching room; access to SCAPVC cinema; SCAPVC specialist theatre and rehearsal studios ( 2 of each) and student social learning space; toilet facilities; showers for cyclists; wellbeing room; changing places room.
Mezzanine
Access to upper levels of cinema and lecture theatres and technical spaces for the theatre studios; projection and screening rooms (3) for Film & Television Studies, Media and Edit Suites; Faculty seminar space; generic student social learning space.
Floor 1
SCAPVC academic spaces for Cultural Media Policy Studies, Film & Television Studies and Theatre & Performance Studies ; Film & Television Studies stores, Image Capture room and MIRC Image Library; departmental student social learning spaces; centrally timetabled teaching spaces; Faculty seminar and meeting rooms; generic student social learning spaces; Faculty reprographics room and kitchen; toilets.
Floor 2
SCAPVC: School Office, Warwick Writing Programme discipline staff, student social learning space and the Creative Writing Studio; Classics & Ancient History departmental space, Antiquities Room and student social learning space; Faculty Research Zone with PGR/Post Doc spaces and offices for the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, the Arts Education Pedagogy Research Group and the Research Support Hub - CADRE, Humanities Research Centre and Centre for Caribbean Studies administration and RIS Business Partnered Support; Faculty hub offices; centrally timetabled teaching spaces; Faculty seminar and meeting rooms; generic student social learning spaces; Faculty reprographics room and kitchen; toilets.
Floor 3 – the Forum
History departmental and student social learning spaces; centrally timetabled teaching spaces; Faculty seminar and meeting rooms; generic student social learning spaces; Faculty reprographics room and kitchen; toilets.
Floor 4
SMLC departmental and student social learning spaces; Language Centre; Transnational Resources Centre; centrally timetabled teaching spaces; Faculty seminar and meeting rooms; general student social learning spaces; Faculty reprographics room and kitchen; toilets.
Floor 5
English departmental and student social learning spaces and SCAPVC History of Art discipline academic staff offices; centrally timetabled teaching spaces; Faculty seminar and meeting rooms; general student social learning spaces; SCAPVC and English event space; Faculty reprographics room and kitchen; toilets. There is an external terrace on this floor of the building.
Floor 6
Centrally timetabled teaching spaces; Faculty seminar and meeting rooms; toilets.
H
- Height
The new building is 8 storeys and 35 metres high. At the date of completion the FAB is the tallest building on the campus.
- History
The Department of History is located on level 3 of the new building.
- History of Art
History of Art is one of the academic disciplines in the School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures (SCAPVC). The School Office is on level 2, but the academic staff for History of Art are located on level 5.
L
- Lifts
There are three lifts in the building: a cluster of two lifts and a single lift. The single lift operates as a normal lift, but it can be used by fire service and trained personnel during an evacuation of the building to move individuals who cannot use the stairs down to the ground floor.
There is a major central staircase, which goes up the core of the building. There are also three other back staircases, which are located in three out of the four clusters on each floor.
- Location
The new building is located on the central University of Warwick campus adjacent to the Arts Centre and the Oculus teaching building.
M
- Matthew Raw - Artwork
There is a large scale ceramic mural by the entrance to the new building.
The University commissioned the artist Matthew Raw to work with the tile manufacturers NBK to make a group of tiles for the ground floor exterior of the new Arts Building. The title of the mural is Faith in the Miraculous. The piece is intended to signal the creative power of the staff and students in the building.
Matthew was artist in residence at the V&A and has researched the ceramic history of Coventry and in particular, the ceramics of the post-war period. His focus for the commission draws on that sense of the future that the post-war art of our city tried to express. Matthew has already visited the campus several times to talk to staff and students about their sense of what this new building will initiate and to draw on their ideas and imagery to inform his work.
The image below shows the installation of the tiles for the mural.
N
- Name - The FAB
The new Faculty of Arts building is known as "the FAB". All the room numbers in the building start FAB...
O
There are 175 single occupancy offices in the building of approximately 7.5 m2 . The offices are spread across the departmental and faculty areas and will take one occupant plus two visitors for a small meeting or teaching session.
In addition to the single occupancy offices, there are a group of shared office spaces and shared academic studio spaces providing accommodation for over 200 staff.
There are shared professional staff offices in each of the departmental and faculty areas that have been designed to fit the individual area requirements. The offices range from spaces that fit 1-2 members of staff to larger spaces that may take 8-10 staff.
The academic studio or shared academic office space is in the middle of each departmental cluster. It comprises long tables with allocated spaces, chairs and desk units. There are lockers and shelves in the studio for storage.
- Opening Event
The new Arts building was formally opened on the 20 May 2022. Watch the opening event video on youtube
P
- Poem
The poem Resonance that appears high on the Agora wall is by Raymond Antrobus. It was specially commissioned and written for the opening of the FAB. It is part of the University's Art collection and you can find out more about the poem and read the full text at the following link. You can also listen to Raymond Antrobus reading Resonance in the FAB at the following linkLink opens in a new window.
R
- Research Zone
A Faculty space which includes allocated space for post docs and PGRS as well as some hotdesk spaces. This space is to be found on level 2.
S
- School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures
A multidisciplinary School which includes: the Centre for Cultural Media Policy Studies, Film & Television Studies, History of Art, Theatre and Performance Studies and the Warwick Writing Programme. This School is spread across multiple floors. Theatre studios, rehearsal rooms and the cinema are on the ground floor. The shared media and edit suite facilities are on the mezzanine floor and the MIRC Library, Creative Writing Studio and Media Lab are on the first floor . Office space is spread across floors 1, 2 and 5. The School Office is on level 2.
- School of Cross-faculty Studies
The School of Cross-faculty Studies is not moving into the new Arts building and will remain in Ramphal Building. Students from the School are taught in the new Arts building. The School currently encompasses the Liberal Arts and Global Sustainable Development disciplines. From 2023/24, the School will become home for the new Design Studies discipline.
- School of Modern Languages and Cultures
The School of Modern Languages and the Language Centre are located on floor 4. The specialist Transnational Resources Centre is also located on this floor.
- Solar Energy
There are roof-mounted solar panels on this building.
T
- Time Capsule
A Time Capsule filled with documents and artefacts about the new building and current student and community life was buried under the new building.
There are 79 toilets in the building. There are 35 non-gendered "super loos" spread across the building from the ground floor to level 6. ("Super loos" are toilets with hand-washing facilities within the cubicle.) On the ground floor near the lecture theatres, there are two blocks of gendered toilets with separate handwashing facilities (10 female cubicles, 3 male cubicles and 4 urinals). There are 19 non-gendered accessible toilets and 8 ambulant "super loos", which are also spread across the building from the ground floor to level 6.
On the ground floor there are also: 4 showers, 1 accessible shower and 1 changing place room.
- Topping Out Ceremony
The Topping Out Ceremony was held in November 2020.
V
- Ventilation
The building has a mix of ventilation methods based upon room usage. Some offices and teaching spaces are a mixture of natural and mechanical ventilation and others are mechanically ventilated. Intensively used spaces, such as the lecture theatres, will be mechanically ventilated. Concrete was selected for the structural frame, partly due to its ability to passively control heat levels. UK Building Regulations and industry standards take consideration of ventilation and hygiene issues.