This BREEAM Excellent rated, 32-storey city centre development provides 603 student bedrooms with generous amenities and lettable commercial space at ground floor. The bedrooms are arranged in a mixture of studio and 5-10 bed cluster apartments with shared kitchen facilities. Students have access to games, TV, study, lounge and meeting rooms, post room, laundry and cycle storage, and can admire the city views from the top floor study room.
The building comprises a lower podium element with a taller tower above. Responding to the variety of scale and form of the surrounding buildings, the tower is divided into four distinct stacked segments, which shift in plan. A deep shadow line between the segments emphasises the shifting blocks, and cut outs at each alternate corner conveys a projecting and twisting distinctive form.
The building’s contrasting dark façade comprises metal cladding panels with fixed glazed units and perforated metal panels, behind which openable windows allow natural ventilation. The staggered regular pattern of equal sized window and solid panels provides a planar façade. Fins misaligned through each segment disguise the rigid window pattern typically associated with student accommodation and ensure privacy in the bedrooms.