With an international reputation for excellence in learning and teaching, and high-quality research, the University of Stirling is located in the heart of Scotland and boasts one of the most beautiful campuses in the UK. Stirling’s facilities – and its teaching, internationalism and inclusiveness, and its students’ employability – are rated five-star in the QS World University Rankings, and more than 120 nationalities are represented on campus.

Built in the shadow of the Ochil Hills, the University is located on a magnificent 140-hectare estate, centred on a large loch and the eighteenth-century Airthrey Castle. From 1967, the campus was developed and integrated into Airthrey Castle’s historic parkland, described in Historic Scotland’s Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland as ‘a significant eighteenth- and nineteenth-century designed landscape notable for the beauty of the parkland and lake’.

The 1960s campus master plan identified Airthrey Loch as the ‘heart’ of the University landscape, around which a series of ‘neighbourhoods’ would be created. A key neighbourhood is the main student residences hub. Eight modernist buildings were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, each around a central southern courtyard, leading down towards the loch in an informal landscape setting.

In 2010 the University concluded a comprehensive review of its residential strategy. A £40m programme, phased over three years, was rolled out to replace a total of 788 student bed spaces. This was achieved through the development of two vacant sites and the demolition and rebuilding of two accommodation blocks.

The project was carried out in stages, and the final phase was handed over to the University in 2015. The key design objectives for the development were:

• to integrate with and complement the architecture of the remaining adjacent buildings;

• to encourage the use of communal outdoor spaces, promoting social interaction and engagement with the landscape;

• to provide, over three phases, 788 student bed spaces, maintaining capacity throughout the works as far as possible;

• to provide purpose-built, high-quality accommodation that met existing and future expectations of student and commercial markets;

• to provide a range of accommodation types, including studios, en-suite single bedrooms in cluster flats, town houses and accommodation for families;

• to provide accommodation that is flexible and can be adapted to ‘hotel-style’ accommodation during the commercial letting period;

• to create a welcoming central reception point for the main residential neighbourhood;

• to ensure that the development is environmentally sustainable and minimises ecological and arboriculture impact;

• to encourage sustainable living and management within the accommodation;

• to achieve a BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating;

• to provide a safe, inclusive environment and to incorporate flexibility to facilitate future adaptation for occupants with specific requirements; and

• to improve accessibility for all within and around the buildings, as far as is feasible within the designed landscape setting.

The building aesthetic is complementary to the unique campus setting, yet powerful and dramatic, with bold planes of unbroken façades facing the loch and horizontal bands of fenestration stepping with the contours beneath. The buildings consist of a limited palette of materials, with facing block and glass as the primary elements. Careful consideration was necessary to ensure that the required change to the building mass did not compromise the concepts of the original design.

The improvement in east–west circulation across the campus was interlinked with both physical and visual connections through the buildings, to encourage people to engage with the loch and use the courtyards. The proposals have been carefully integrated into the mature landscaped setting of the historic parkland and provide the University with high-quality facilities for both student and commercial lets.

Alexander Court town house accommodation

Elsewhere within the accommodation, circulation spaces are generous, with bedroom doors recessed in corridors and movement areas designed to provide light in corridors and to offer views over the campus. Keycard entry is used to adapt the building from student occupancy to commercial lets, by varying access points and restricting access to other areas. Postgraduate town houses and family flats also form a more remote and secluded development in the north-east corner of the campus, with the additional provision of accessible flats. Each building also has a reception desk and generous adjacent social space that can act as a lounge or be adapted for events. One of the new buildings also incorporates a reception and operations centre, next to a café, for both the residential and commercial teams.

A sustainability strategy was outlined throughout the project, addressing each building’s general environmental issues. Individual BREEAM and detailed sustainability assessments were carried out for each building and a BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating was achieved.

The outstanding range of modern, comfortable and secure accommodation – including standard rooms, en-suite and studios – at the centre of a stunning campus ensures the University is able to offer a first-class student experience, in an inspirational environment.

Juniper Court accommodation

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Article taken from the book ‘AUDE: The First 25 Years’. Digital and hard copies available to buy.

Content for the book was drafted during 2016 and 2017 and was correct at the time of writing.