Architecture studio Sam Jacob Studio has refurbished a 1960s building at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, using playful architectural references and bright colours to add layers of "wit and delight" to the existing interiors.
The project provides teaching spaces for the university's School of Architecture, Design and Planning, which is part of a campus designed by William Holford that opened in 1965.
Sam Jacob Studio has refurbished the interiors of a 1960s University of Kent building
Sam Jacob Studio (SJS) looked to retain what it described as the "soft brutalist" character of the brick and concrete Marlowe Building when reorganising the existing interior.
The Marlowe building originally housed the university's physics department, which featured a series of cellular offices on the ground floor and a top-lit lab space above. The studio wanted to retain the building's "soft brutalist" feeling
Following a detailed consultation with faculty and students, Jacob and his team defined a strategy that balances areas dedicated to specific year groups and subjects with the ability to transform and open up the spaces.
The team at SJS said it was interested in "what happens between the logic of architecture and the happenstance of creative working".
They based their design on a variety of famous creative spaces including the Bauhaus school and Paul Rudolph's brutalist Yale Art and Architecture Building, as well as The Factory create...