Design students at the University of Plymouth were tasked with transforming the ground floor atrium space of the Roland Levinsky Building on the campus with a brief to support a mix of activities and encourage use throughout the day.
The design for the proposed reception and cafe areas had to reflect the creative nature of the Roland Levinsky Building, home to the university’s School of Art, Design and Architecture while bringing back activity and providing a destination for students, academics, staff and visitors. The Interior Design course students created a pop-up style space with a floor of luxury vinyl tiles inspired by fragments of broken glass.
Engaging key users
Jonathan Forster, a design podcaster, interior designer and Award Leader of the Spatial and Interior Design degree courses at the university, worked with a group of final year students to deliver a pop-up style space.
“I thought it was important to engage the key users – students themselves – in the creation of the area so that we could create a design, which felt right from a student perspective. We put together a design team of third-year students responsible for the finishes and furniture," Forster explained.
“The café is housed within a reclaimed shipping container as we thought it was a nice way of reflecting Plymouth’s maritime history as well as bringing a pop-up style flavour to the space made popular by street food markets and retail concepts such as Box Park.”
Comfort through contrast
The interior of the Roland Levinsky Building has an industrial style vibe with a grey concrete floor and exposed electrics and HVAC. The design of the café zone aimed to contrast this by providing a high level of visual comfort, making the area a natural draw for users of the building, be it for meeting before a lecture, checking out exhibitions in the gallery or catching the latest screening at the Jill Craigie Cinema.
Given that the café area is situated within a large atrium, the flooring formed an important element of the design and also presented an opportunity to make a design statement when viewed from the floors above. Café seating, meeting tables and softer breakout space make the area a destination for users, and the flooring supports the area’s intent to deliver welcoming comfort in contrast to the rest of the building’s industrial feel.
Student designed
Forster and the students selected a range of luxury vinyl tile solutions from the Moduleo 55 Tiles and Moduleo 55 Expressive collections. The student design team used colour and texture to bring visual comfort to the space.
Jordan Chidgey was part of the student design team and was responsible for the design of the layout.
“I wanted to create a space that contrasted with its existing environment while remaining in-keeping with the industrial feel of the building. Initially, I took the brief quite literally, with the idea of a breakout space triggering thought processes around the idea of breaking. I looked into the theme of fracturing and shards of broken glass, developing a range of layouts," Chidgey said.
“Using harsh edges allowed us to maintain that ‘rough’ feel, with colour and texture providing relief from the brutalist concrete. In terms of zoning and how the space flows, the design features large areas of colour to allow users to distinguish between multiple seating spaces and the shapes within the layout also work as directional guides.”
The entire student team selected the final colours and textures for the area, building a palette of two pastel Desert Crayola colours – 46616 and 46696, Desert Stone 46915 and the tropical wood strip effect of Shades in the rich and dark tone of 62290.
Universally approved
With a design that lives up to the brief to create a destination reception and café that reflected the creative nature of courses held within the University of Plymouth’s Roland Levinsky Building, the space has been universally approved by students, staff, academics and visitors.
“The overall design has been well received by students and other users. The spaces are being used in the way we imagined and the whole area feels more welcoming and visually appealing. It’s neater, tidier and has a stronger impact. The floor forms a strong element of the design, helping to define the cafe and create a memorable experience for visitors,” Forster concluded.
