The design for the new School of Architecture: an educational project

^{Worm’s eye view of O’Donnell and Tuomey project}

The Topping Out Ceremony for the new School of Architecture, designed by O'Donnell and Tuomey, was recently conducted by Vice-Chancellor Tim Jones. Dr. Marco Iuliano, who devised and directed the competition for the new building, reflects on the project - set ten years ago as an educational initiative. 

Can a design competition for a School of Architecture become an educational project? And can the academic community rethink the potential of architecture in today’s society if exposed to the proposals of imaginative practices?

These were the questions at the root of the competition for the new Liverpool School of Architecture, which sought to redefine the nature of architectural education in the 21st century, challenging urgent preoccupations of the architectural profession. The aim was for a new building respectful of tradition, but ambitious enough to anticipate future directions of architecture and how it might be taught: an innovative vision for the School where James Stirling and other renowned architects studied had the scope to form the centre of a campus-wide University Masterplan strategy, developed in association with the Estates Department.

^{The three buildings of the Liverpool School of Architecture}

The School not only aspired to use the contest to achieve excellent architecture, but also to serve as a powerful learning opportunity for students. The selection procedure did not, therefore, involve the imposition of an architect handed down from above, as is too often the case. In contrast, a multi-phased selection process — which involved students, faculty members and university staff in an inclusive process of assessment and debate — fundamentally led the outcome of the final judging panel, the most recognisable aspect of the contest. 

Of the eighteen firms invited to participate in the competition, representing diverse backgrounds and levels of experience, each at different stages of their careers, six were shortlisted to present a developed design proposal.

After the unanimous selection of the Irish firm O’Donnell and Tuomey (ODT), the design and the procurement of the extension continued throughout the following years. Overcoming the limitations imposed by the pandemic, strong relationships between the School of Architecture, the Estates and the Irish practice formed a creative partnership that secured planning permission from Liverpool City Council in 2021. The project broke ground in 2023 and is expected to reach full completion in 2026.

The new extension is expressed as the latest in a series of three unique buildings accommodating the School. Each building demonstrates how architecture and its fabrication can express the preoccupations and ethical philosophies of the era in which it was designed and constructed. The new building has remarkable potential both for the University and the School of Architecture — an exemplary piece of architecture at the centre of the academic community. 

^{Internal study of the layout, March 2020}

Structure of the Competition

The selection process was divided between three successive phases, each of which prioritised the voices of different groups and individuals. Students, staff and representatives of the Estates Department shortlisted the firms which eventually presented a design proposal. All these groups entered into dialogue with the final jury panel, formed by eminent external experts, which ultimately agreed upon the winner.

To represent the interests of stakeholders and mediate between them, a committee was formed from senior members of the School of Architecture. The competition was directed by the author of this article, with key support from Soumyen Bandyopadhyay, Alex Dusterloh, Peter Farrell, and Nicholas Ray, under the overarching supervision of the Faculty’s Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Fiona Beveridge. An initial list of practices was arranged in three categories to ensure a broad range of firms were represented: internationally established professionals (including Pritzker Prize, EU-Mies van der Rohe award and RIBA Gold medal winners); those with a strong background in building for education and/or in connection with historic contexts; and younger, emerging architects. 

In the first stage each of the 18 practices was invited to submit a description of past work, relating the firm’s approach to the upcoming design challenge, illustrating these short texts with a small series of images. To ensure meaningful involvement, the entire school was invited to the presentation of first round submissions, at the end of 2018. Representatives of the student body delivered each firm’s text, while members of the competition committee explained the competition in detail. Both students and staff voted to select the practices that went forward to the next phase. Students were able to see that even the most successful architects need to communicate their ideas in public and should be subject to critical review. 

During the second stage the 9 remaining practices submitted additional material, in the form of a portfolio, relating their work to more specific criteria. Sketches, architectural drawings and photographs of earlier achievements were related to five key ‘quality indicators’, enabling a critical analysis of their appropriateness for this demanding project. These were: the attention to place, context and scale; the capacity to generate space with character and atmosphere; the production of tectonics, materiality and tactile experience; the organisation, articulation and detail in their designs; the environmental responsibility and weathering of their proposals. Students, staff and the competition committee with the University of Liverpool Estates voted to select six practices to continue towards the final appointment, choosing two from each of the initial categories.

^{Architect’s Journal opening heading in February 2019}

The six shortlisted firms were Grafton Architects, O’Donnell and Tuomey, Eric Parry Architects, Haworth Tompkins, Carmody Groarke and 6a Architects. Each of these practices was required to respond to (and question) a detailed brief. The firms fully endorsed the challenge, producing proposals far beyond the assignment which were still realistic with respect to feasibility and budget. The practices presented their proposals in presence at the beginning of June 2019, in a public event. Debate was structured around a presentation that included printed boards and physical models. The participation of students, staff and University Estates continued, attesting to the inclusive ambitions of the competition. The final decision rested upon an external jury in dialogue with students’ representatives: it was formed by Maria Balshaw, Kenneth Frampton (chair), Juhani Pallasmaa and the late Michael Wilford. Following careful consideration, the judges unanimously awarded the commission to O’Donnell and Tuomey with the following motivation:

This scheme was highly valued for the way in which it not only rationally reorganised the available space in both the original Georgian Terrace and the Leverhulme building but also established a new head building, which was both subtly inflected towards the new park and the existing cathedral. It is also dynamically articulated, orchestrating a series of mezzanine studio spaces volumetrically linked to the generous café, and the exhibition spaces situated at grade. New elevators are strategically located between each historic part of the complex. The jurors appreciated the didactically tectonic use of the timber folded plate construction, partially inspired by the geometry of the cathedral. The three parts in which the school is organised convey a narrative of architectural history and the newest part appropriately celebrates space, structure and light. The triangulated geometry also connects the building with the cathedral. The skew lines activate the pedestrian views along the street.

Maria Balshaw, Tate Director and final jury member, described the winning design as having the potential “to become the best architectural contribution to the University of Liverpool campus”. 

^{O’Donnell and Tuomey model: in white the new additions}

Essential elements of the design

The historical context of the Liverpool School of Architecture, and its site, formed key parts of both the brief and the competition-winning design. Established in 1894, the Liverpool School of Architecture moved into its current premises in the early 1930s, when the then-head of school Charles Reilly and his colleagues designed the Leverhulme building in the heart of the university campus. This extension was attached to several Georgian townhouses that face Abercromby Square. In 1988, Dave King and Rod McAllister, tutors and practising architects at the School, completed another successful addition, which currently houses the main teaching and studio spaces.

As the alma mater of James Stirling, for whom both Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey had worked at the beginning of their careers, the project for the new Liverpool School of Architecture had special significance for the architects. They understood the existing School as a palimpsest, wishing to add to its layered narrative and represent the School of Architecture of the future. The resultant assemblage of new build and refurbishment enhances the functionality of the entire complex, logically rearranging interdependent parts to create a key element of the University’s Masterplan. The sequence now progresses from the formality of the Georgian terrace addressing Abercromby Square, through the refined 1930s building at the centre of the composition, already disrupted by its lightweight 1980s redevelopment, to the dynamic informality of the ODT addition. Each of these buildings expresses the primary activity it contains, whether offices, workshops or studios. A diagonal circulation system weaves these functions together, linking the major spaces in plan and section, responding to the variety of existing floor levels. 

Together, the buildings present a learning opportunity to students, who can relate the construction, and the materials used to the different architectural paradigms responsible for each one. It is a School of Architecture in every sense.

^{Bird’s eye view of the School of Architecture and its relationship with the Cathedral}

The existing complex includes Georgian terraced houses, a 1930s courtyard building with subsequent infill and extension works. The brief recognised the “lack of cohesion among the parts, a missing public core and social spaces” while requiring all of the existing fabric to be retained. Our design adds to the narrative, starting from the baseline of the Georgian square, relating to the scale of the existing buildings, respecting their material presence, responding to the roof-lit section. Previously disconnected parts are stitched together to make a meaningful whole. We started from the ground up; from an analysis of the site conditions, from the history of the school, from a desire to embody the project aspirations. The extension opens towards the angled geometry of the Lutyens/Gibberd cathedral. It makes a new entrance on the main street of the campus. It turns the corner to face the central green space. The building belongs to its place. We started from the inside out; a concrete table supports timber-trussed loft space studios above. The gathering hall is a public exhibition space, its ribbed slab supported on haunch-headed columns. Upper-level studios are arranged under 30m clear-span roof trusses, with solar-shaded daylighting. The building is designed to be adaptable to change and to last a long time. 

Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey

^{Sheila O’Donnel’s watercolour of the internal space}

From design to realisation

The competition was always conceived as a kind of research project. Therefore, to develop the embryonic idea into a mature design, a collegial approach was agreed upon. Before the final stage of the competition, a detailed plan of current and future needs had been prepared, generating an initial schedule of accommodation. In the face of challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and financial constraints, the School has continued to update and develop the requirements and ambitions of the final project, also supporting the proposed procurement strategy, the allocation of construction costs and ultimate tender submission. 

^{An aerial view of the perimeter of the new project, Spring 2023}

The process of the design, due to the competition’s unique structure, has drawn attention to Liverpool School of Architecture’s important history and to the contributions it continues to make to architectural culture. The School has once again found itself at the centre of questions relevant to the evolution of construction and to architectural education. Meanwhile, the quality of the built architecture — the core objective since the competition’s start — has the primary scope to inspire the teaching which takes place within the School. A project that, as said, is an education in its own right.

Dr. Marco Iuliano

^{The building site in a photograph by Hélène Binet, 2025}

Links

Building site webcam 
Topping Out Ceremony 
O’Donnell and Tuomey 
The Architects' Journal 
The RIBA Journal