Active Design Case Study. Active Campus - Creating An Active Campus Environment.
Loughborough University is renowned for its excellence in research, teaching and enterprise and the contribution it makes to sport and activity. The university's reputation in sport is built on a long and successful sporting heritage. Today Loughborough is ranked first in the world of sports-related subjects and plays host to many of the highest performing student-athletes and teams in the country.
Located in the heart of the Loughborough campus, the new student village provides over 600 student bedrooms within halls of residences, together with the innovative Elite Athlete Centre. The centre, coupled with the sporting facilities on campus is designed to support quality accommodation in 44 bedrooms. 20 of these are equipped with innovative technology that creates climatic conditions up to 5,000 metres to support athletes undertaking altitude training.
The active landscape comprises a suite of courtyards offering different activities set within an enriched environment for exercise, relaxation and social interaction. The elements in this active landscape were chosen through careful community engagement and are designed to influence behaviour and prompt changes in personal activity habits.
The university recognised that outside of its world-class sports and fitness facilities a broad and inclusive offer was needed to encourage people to introduce more physical activity into their daily lives. This led to the realisation that creating places to be active between formal sports facilities not only creates more opportunities to be active for those already engaged in sport but for those students who are less active, it encourages them to become more active.
The result is that the Student Village has become the first Active Campus anywhere in the UK. Throughout the site, facilities are provided that offer outstanding recreation and fitness opportunities that are specifically designed to support learning, health and wellbeing in an exceptional environment. The design if the new village looked to apply a number of the Active Design principles through:
Ongoing enhancement of the student experience and promoting activity for all.
Maximising the potential for activity within the external environment.
Providing a network of open spaces with walkable and connected routes, co-located with high-quality spaces.
Enhancing physical and mental wellbeing.
Creating a well maintained, natural landscape and environment.
Maximising the potential of the scheme's success through effective stakeholder engagement
What Can Other Development Projects Learn From The Active Campus Approach?
Clear and thought out consultation and engagement objectives.
Stakeholder Engagement.
Engage with all users.
Monitoring.
Build elements into everyday landscape.
Be Innovative.
Use of quality materials.
Creating a variety of spaces that will appeal to a wider range of users.
Changing of materials and colour creates zones.
Flexible spaces.
Many thanks to Colour Landscape Architecture for providing the information.
Colour Landscape Architecture
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