ABW - Edge Hill Tech Hub
Edge Hill University has a new look about it, with the newly completed Technology Hub, overseen by Liverpool architects ABW. The hub, which is designed to bring the university in line with modern, cutting-edge teaching spaces, features a striking, curved exterior, with extensive glazing reinforcing its use as a centre for technological learning.
The building is home to a host of teaching spaces and specialist labs for the university’s computing and science courses. Located on the edge of the campus, ABW were sensitive that the design of this building was potentially crucial to the first impression the site creates for visitors. They said ‘ the site sits at the edge of the university campus within a conservation area with housing to either side, and mature planting all around. Whilst at the periphery of the campus, the site overlooks an important route into the site that is heavily used by students.’
The university itself has claimed that it wants the hub to not only be a crucial resource for students, but also for employers across Lancashire and further afield, with particular focus on those based in digital creative industries. Indeed, the low-carbon building was only possible thanks to a £3m investment from the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership.
Of the numerous resources on offer, from a programmable robot child to state-of-the-art biotechnology labs, one facility stands out more than the rest. Edge Hill’s Tech Hub is home to CAVE, or Computer Augmented Virtual Environment, which is a fully immersive, augmented reality room. Through this, anybody can place themselves in a virtual room, in a fabricated scenario, in stunning 4k resolution surroundings. This can be of great aid with emergency situations, complex surgeries and lab reactions.
