Liverpool Hope reveals InQuiry building plans

The university is to overhaul the lecture theatre complex at its Hope Park campus in Childwall, part-demolishing the building and expanding the overall footprint.

Wilson Mason is the architect for the project, which will see the remaining section of the complex reclad. Plans have now been filed with the city council.

It will be joined by a new steel-frame building, with profiled deck concrete floors. The envelope will be traditional brickwork and detailing ,with large sections of curtain wall. New services will be installed throughout.

According to Wilson Mason’s design & access statement, the guiding principle is for improvement of student spaces, with no jump in student numbers or traffic to the site envisaged.

The Lecture Theatre Complex as it stands is made up of three lecture theatres. Originally constructed as a gym in the 1960s, it was then repurposed and expanded in the 1980s and has seen numerous piecemeal adjustments since. It is the later additions that will be removed.

Wilson Mason’s DAS states that “The InQuiry Building is to provide new student-focused informal learning spaces. As a ‘library without books’ the building is to create the same level and quality of a traditional campus library, a place where students naturally gravitate to study, collaborate and create.”

LHU’s planning application states that 8,715 sq ft of space will be removed, and 22,000 s ft of new space introduced.

New teaching spaces will also be included, to accommodate small tutorial groups and larger groups of 50-60. The existing LTC foyer will be retained and integrated, “flooded with natural top lighting”. The overall design will include a mix of single, double and triple height spaces.

Informal meeting spaces are central to the project. Credit: via planning documents