Dennis Sciama Building, University of Portsmouth

The Dennis Sciama Building provides a new social hub for Portsmouth University's north campus - the ground floor houses all catering for students and staff. On the top floor, with a terrace and views to the south, is the internationally important Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, with two general teaching floors below. The design is a calm and carefully proportioned response to the listed 19th century cottages to the south and the large-scale modern University buildings to the north and west. From a sustainability point of view, the building is ambitious, and provides light and airy naturally ventilated spaces, using central voids to pull air through the building and expel it at high level.