Attenborough Building
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52°37′16.5″N 1°7′26.4″W / 52.621250°N 1.124000°W
The Attenborough Building is the tallest building on the campus of the University of Leicester, and houses arts and humanities departments.[1]
The building comprises three distinct elements: an 18-storey tower block containing 270 offices and tutorial rooms; a low-rise building, known within the University as the 'Attenborough Seminar Block', containing seminar rooms and computing facilities; and an underground area housing two large lecture theatres and the University Film Theatre.[citation needed]
It was designed by Arup Associates[2] and constructed between 1968 and 1970, with Ove Arup as the chief engineers.[citation needed] The university's development plan at the time called for two other similar towers, but these were never built.[3]
The building was named after Frederick Attenborough,[2] who was principal of the then University College from 1932 until 1951, and father of Richard and David Attenborough.[4][3] By the time of the opening ceremony Frederick was elderly and frail, so the building was opened on his behalf by his youngest son John.[citation needed]
The tower reaches a height of 52 metres, making it one of the tallest buildings in the city.[citation needed] It is constructed with a concrete frame, which was cast in situ, and clad with pre-cast concrete panels.[citation needed] Each floor consists of three leaves of space containing the offices.[citation needed] These are separated by the central lobby and service area, which contains a staircase and a lift. It was built with a paternoster lift, but this was closed in December 2017 as maintenance had become too expensive.[5][6]
The University's hilltop location makes the top floor of the tower one of the best vantage points in the city, to the extent that the University have fixed a notice at the base of the tower warning tourists that it is not open for the public "to view the city from a height".[citation needed] The top floor currently houses offices for the research students of the School of Archaeology and Ancient History, and formerly contained music practice rooms, including a full-size grand piano, until it was moved out on 29 March 2007.[citation needed]
The seminar block includes the main entrance to the building.[citation needed] It is connected to the second floor of the tower by a covered bridge.[citation needed] It contains small teaching rooms on four levels, including one basement level.[citation needed] The block underwent significant refurbishment during the summer of 2005, including work to install a lift to make the building conform to the Disability Discrimination Act – previously, access to the different levels of the seminar block was by staircase only.[citation needed] While the base of the tower uses yellow-brown brick seen in other buildings on campus, the seminar block features a concrete finish that more closely matches Denys Lasdun's adjacent brutalist Charles Wilson Building.[citation needed]
In front of the main entrance is a raised piazza, beneath which are the subterranean lecture theatres.[citation needed] There are two lecture theatres, seating 204 and 96 people respectively.[citation needed] The third room was previously a proscenium theatre, and was used by the Leicester University Theatre (LUT) society for their performances.[citation needed] In 2003, the theatre was converted into the 144-seat University Film Theatre, featuring a projection screen and surround sound system, in preparation of the launch of a new Film Studies degree.[citation needed]
The building should not be confused with the Attenborough Arts Centre, which is located on the opposite side of University Road, adjacent to the University's Medical Sciences Building.[citation needed]
Thoughts on the building
[edit]Due to its unusual design, it has been compared by Leicester residents to a giant "cheese grater".[7]
...eighteen monotonous storeys, prickly with window units angled out from top to bottom of the pre-cast concrete panels, a feature more successful inside than out.
— Nikolaus Pevsner[8]
References
[edit]- ^ Andrew Garford Moore (10 February 2015). "Attenborough Building – Leicester". Brutalist Constructions. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- ^ a b avweb1. "Attenborough — University of Leicester". www2.le.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Attenborough Building, Leicester - Building #1059". www.skyscrapernews.com. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- ^ "Who exactly are Leicester uni buildings named after?". University of Leicester. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- ^ Chilver, Katrina (8 December 2017). "Historic Attenborough Tower Leicester University lift to be removed". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- ^ "University closes rare lift 'with a heavy heart'". BBC News. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
- ^ Richards, Simon (2012). Architect knows best: environmental determinism in architecture culture from 1956 to the present. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-3922-6. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Williamson, Elizabeth (1985). Leicestershire and Rutland (second (revised) ed.). Yale University Press. p. 255. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
External links
[edit]
- A video clip of new students trying the paternoster in the Attenborough Tower on YouTube
- "Attenborough Building, Leicester University". Archived from the original on 28 September 2001. Retrieved 28 September 2001. , Arup Associates
- "University of Leicester Development Plan 2002". Archived from the original on 15 November 2002. Retrieved 15 November 2002.
- Attenborough Building Centrally Timetabled Rooms, University of Leicester Audio Visual Services