Spec Finish

Feature www.thefis.org 11 a lower ceiling and that sense of enclosure the client aimed to achieve. The lighting products were from Synergy Creativ. This company was chosen as the lighting elements are bespoke and made in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire which is just down the road from the University - a low carbon footprint”. Nick Tagliarini , Director at Pexhurst said: “We installed the linear circuit board and new LED lighting in a modern geometric pattern to revitalise the space. As mentioned by Claire, we paid homage to the University’s reputation in engineering with the specialist lighting emulating a circuit board”. Light We are now in a digital age where screens and “blue light” are a feature of everyday lives. Claire said: “The lecture hall design included a vast amount of AV equipment to aid interactive learning and group work clustering around movable screens. Also every student could be looking at a laptop or possibly at a phone. Without trying to eliminate this blue- light and glare of the screens, it was decided to embrace this by having painted dark blue walls to form the backdrop to the screens, with blackout curtains to the glazed doors to avoid solar glare on the screens. The colour uplighting at a high level can be turned on to view the screens in a blue colour which will not affect the glare on the screens”. Nick explained in the build, bespoke joinery was applied to encapsulate the five new 18” LED screens and supporting structures around the perimeter of the interior space. The bespoke joinery allowed for future accessibility, ensuring ease of removal, should the University decide to renovate the space in the future. Noise Claire stated: “The existing acoustic wall treatment was performing poorly and the reverberation time was well below an acceptable standard for a lecture hall. An extra layer of acoustic rafts was required to meet the acceptable reverberation calculations - equivalent to the whole ceiling area, but our aim was for an open ceiling. There was a strategy as to where the new wall and ceiling acoustic applications were applied”. Nick said: “We implemented the strategy and applied dark blue acoustic panelling to the upper walls and directly to the high ceiling between the structural members to meet the requirements to reduce reverberation and to ensure the space remained an environment of concentration, even in multi-use scenarios of both quiet solo work and brainstorming group work. This is significantly important within a large lecture hall with up to 120 students”. Comfort Not every student learns in the same way, and not all tutors want to teach in the same way. Claire says: “Strategies to maximise health, wellbeing and productivity outcomes are compatible with a range of design factors, such as indoor air quality, thermal comfort and daylighting, to acoustics and interior layout. “Numerous design decisions looked to broaden the definition of inclusive. This included the mentioned colour lighting, the LED large screen, wall- mounted interactive screens, and open flat-floor teaching. There has been a general move away from the bleacher style seating in the last decade, a conscious decision is to remove these as they create issues for accessibility and lack of flexibility”. Structure The hall has an original delicate lightweight skeletal frame having columns spanning only 1.67 meters between each. Claire said: “You can feel the stresses and vibrations of the building as you jump up and down (architects need to test these things). The fabric of the space and structural frame had to fundamentally remain intact, and the bare bones of the space had to be unaltered in the refurbishment. “It was suggested by the structural engineer if one member of the frame came Amazing transformation of the Prince Edward Hall (Image provided by Synergy Creativ)