02–Adaptive reuse, mixed-use educational
The Split Frame
- Location
- University of Hertfordshire Science Building, Bayfordbury Campus
- Year
- 2025
- Programme
- Adaptive reuse, mixed-use educational
Brief
Design Studio 3.1: Retrofitting explored adaptive reuse as a sustainable architectural strategy through the transformation of the existing Science Building at the Bayfordbury Campus. The brief required the retrofit and extension of the building into a contemporary mixed-use educational facility containing laboratories, classrooms, offices, informal learning spaces, and a new 150-seat lecture theatre. Central to the proposal was the creation of “the space that did not exist”, a vertical spatial intervention connecting all floors and encouraging new forms of interaction, learning, and circulation.
Proposal
The Split Frame explores retrofit as an act of transformation rather than replacement, reimagining an existing institutional building as a more open, connected, and socially engaged environment.
The Split Frame explores retrofit as an act of transformation rather than replacement, reimagining an existing institutional building as a more open, connected, and socially engaged environment. The project is driven by the relationship between light, structure, and community, using architectural intervention to dissolve boundaries between formal and informal learning.
Through strategies of adaptive reuse, spatial subtraction, and visual connectivity, the proposal investigates how existing buildings can be reactivated to support contemporary ways of inhabiting, learning, and interacting. The project aims to preserve the character and memory of the original structure while introducing a new architectural identity that feels transparent, civic, and future-facing.
At its core, the scheme reflects an interest in creating architecture that balances atmosphere with functionality, where sustainability, heritage, and human experience are integrated into a cohesive spatial narrative.
Visualisation
05 images
Technical
Plans, sections,
elevations.
The supporting drawings that develop the architectural intent of the proposal.
04 drawings · tap to enlarge
01–North elevation 02–South elevation 03–East elevation 04–West elevation
Role
Sole designer. Retrofit strategy, spatial analysis, drawings, visualisation.
Credits
University of Hertfordshire, Design Studio 3.1: Retrofitting.
Next project
New Verulamium