Winner of the Education Award from the Glasgow Institute of Architects (GIA) and Project of the Year, Pupil / Student Experience Award at the Learning Places Scotland Awards, the new James McCune Smith (JMS) Learning and Teaching Hub provides state-of-the-art learning and teaching facilities for over 2500 students in a highly sustainable BREEAM Excellent building, that sits in the heart of a Conservation Area.
The University is undertaking an ambitious expansion programme to further enhance its global standing and provide a positive impact on the community it serves. The design has been inspired and driven by user consultation at every level, emphasising the student experience to provide an environment that is open and accessible for all. Its mixture of lecture theatres, small group rooms, breakout and study areas reflects a growing trend in making faculty areas more bespoke, and focussing general teaching in a shared learning hub that embraces new teaching pedagogies and optimises space utilisation.
To fully understand the user aspirations, HLM trialled new learning pedagogies in a series of pilot rooms in an adjacent building. This has enabled us to work with academics to test new approaches such as flipped classrooms and TEAL spaces and define the FF&E and IT needed to support this. The resultant scheme, which opened its doors in April 2021, improves cohesiveness and connectivity across the campus in a building that showcases formal and informal learning and teaching through a welcoming, open environment and encourages students to linger – a sticky campus.
The interior design also has a unique and distinct character – one that reflects the design philosophy of the building…… People, Place, Purpose. Our team of interior designers created a scheme that allows for a stimulating and vibrant space to learn, relax and socialise. A number of exciting and flexible spaces have been created using a simple palette of materials, and spread across a number of zones, creating different learning environments which facilitate new pedagogies.
Project website: https://hlmarchitects.com/projects/james-mccune-smith-learning-hub/
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