New Front Plaza for Matthew Boulton College, Birmingham Metropolitan College
The college found that the existing openness of the plaza to the pavement and highway led to anti-social behaviour from passers by and wanted a more secure, defined and enjoyable space that students would actually want to use, making this design challenge a genuine safeguarding and student-experience issue, not just an aesthetic one. The space needed to feel secure without feeling closed-off or unwelcoming, since over-enclosing a college frontage can create its own problems such as poor sightlines or feeling institutional.
The Challenge
Our Response
Our solution was a more aesthetically pleasing and defined area, with green walls and trees to improve the urban landscape. Modifications to the front plaza also included the parking layout, outdoor seating areas, trees and green wall. Other areas we included were a drop off zone, external furniture, green wall to divide the space from the parking area, feature planting and lights, and a smoking shelter in the parking area.
The Outcome
The more defined, enclosed plaza using green walls and trees established a clear physical and visual boundary from the public highway. A reduction of anti-social behaviour encouraged students to use the space more, creating an outdoor social space that did not exist previously.
"They've really worked very hard to understand our students, understand our needs and very much taken a non-commercial view of what we require. The designs that they've introduced into the work that we've had at Bmet have been transformational.
They've influenced student behaviour and had a significant impact on the way we have operated. We are not a commercial organisation and we can't pretend to be, but they have worked with us incredibly well and understood that. And for that, we will be forever grateful."
