Daphne Steele Building
Huddersfield, UK
Services
Sectors
project overview
Setting the standard in healthcare education
The Daphne Steele building in the University of
Huddersfield’s (UoH) National Health Innovation Campus, is designed with
people’s wellbeing at the heart. It is the first university building to be designed
to WELL Platinum Standard, promoting new ways of thinking
about a healthy and sustainable environment.
The development will deliver an outstanding
learning experience for students, with cutting-edge health education and
research, helping to shape the future of healthcare professionals.
Inspired by features of the human body, and with biophilic principles, the building will be a place where people will want to visit, work and learn.
The caring nature of the faculty was also an inspiration behind the building’s design, with the integration of plenty of ‘sticky’ spaces for more informal socialising between students, teachers and visitors.
We explored the outdoor spaces at every
level to ensure the building made the most of its surroundings. Sitting on the
prominent site of Huddersfield’s former sports centre, the development boasts
spectacular views across Huddersfield’s green hills, reinforcing a connection
to the landscape and the outdoors.
The building has been developed to recreate a patient’s journey, supporting the university’s vision to create a high-quality, simulated environment for people as part of the education process. If the faculty is to help shape the future of health and healthcare, this building will help to shape the students, the community and everyone who will use this building over its lifetime.
interior design
Creating a space to enhance and improve student and staff wellbeing
As the building is targeting WELL Platinum Standard, every
component of the interior has been carefully considered in order to support
this. Using biophilic design and incorporating strong connections to nature,
including plenty of plants and green walls and timber finishes, the interior
will help to improve people’s health and comfort as they use the space.
We have selected finishes which will positively impact on students and staff health and wellbeing as they use the space. Carpets use a weaving technology that actively traps fine particles from the air and finishes using natural materials and high recycled content contribute to the university’s environmental sustainability aspirations.
As the building will be so large, a cohesive internal
finishes and wayfinding strategies have been developed to make navigation easy
and accessible. A key biophilic principle is to create a sense of place. To
support this we have used a colour palette inspired by the local landscape of
Huddersfield and UoH’s identity. We have also created a “colours of nature” to
inform other colour selection in the building.
To create a sense of arrival at each area, we designated a colour scheme for each, which has been reflected through internal finishes. Social and breakout spaces will be lively and stimulating, physio and sports areas will use navy blue, podiatry and orthotics will use fresh greens and each stair core has also been assigned a colour.
fly through
An inspiring hub for learning and work in the future of healthcare
Explore the Daphne Steele Building through our flythrough video here and see our design vision come to life.
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