Schuster Laboratory Explained

Schuster Laboratory
Building Type:Academic teaching and research
Location:Manchester
Owner:The University of Manchester
Coordinates:53.4671°N -2.2307°W
Completion Date:1967[1]
Floor Count:7
Architect:Fairhurst, Harry S. & Sons[2]

The Schuster Laboratory (also known as the Schuster Building) houses the Department of Physics and Astronomy, part of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, at the University of Manchester. It is named after Arthur Schuster and is located in Brunswick Park (formerly Brunswick Street[3]) on the main campus of the university.

The building was designed by Fairhurst, Harry S. & Sons, of the Fairhurst Design Group, and was completed in 1967. The roof of the largest lecture theatre in the building has an abstract sculpture by Michael Piper on it.[4] In 2007, the existing labs and offices were refurbished.[5] The Schuster Annexe, opened by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, was added in 2018.[6]

Architecture

The Schuster Laboratory was built during a time of expansion for the university, with the construction of a new Science Quadrangle. The Schuster Building was one of the later buildings constructed on this Quadrangle. The Electrical Engineering Laboratory, on the south side, was completed by 1954.[7] This was followed by the Simon Engineering Laboratories on the south-west of the quadrangle, finished in mid-1962, and the Chemistry building on the south-east which was completed by October 1964. The Schuster Laboratories had been approved, and planning was nearly completed, by the end of August 1962.[8]

The Schuster Annexe was designed by Hawkins Brown and was completed in 2017. It contains additional laboratories and offices, as well as dedicated areas for group work and collaboration.[9]

The mosaic The Alchemist’s Elements (1967, Hans Tisdall) was mounted on the building in 2022.[10]

Facilities

The building houses four lecture theatres around the foyer on the ground floor named after people who taught or researched in the department: Rutherford, Bragg, Blackett, and Moseley (seating 258, 148, 145, and 155, respectively).[11] These rooms are centrally allocated by the university, rather than being used solely by the department. There is also a fifth theatre, bearing the name of Jocelyn Bell Burnell, located in the Annexe.[12]

There is a meeting room located on the top floor of the South wing of the building called the Niels Bohr Common Room, which also provides access to the rooftop telescope. The building also houses computer and experimental laboratories for both research and teaching purposes.

The building was purpose-built for the Department of Physics and Astronomy and houses six of its groups specialising in:

The Schuster Building was also home to the Photon Physics group and part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics until they were relocated to the Alan Turing Building in September 2007.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Schuster Laboratory . George . Lafferty . 23 February 2000 . 2008-02-27.
  2. Web site: Manchester Buildings and the Architects who built Manchester? . John . Moss . 6 January 2006 . 2008-02-17.
  3. Web site: Brunswick Park officially opens (The University of Manchester) . 2022-07-17 . www.socialresponsibility.manchester.ac.uk.
  4. Book: Wyke, Terry . Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester . 2004 . Liverpool University Press . 0-85323-567-8.
  5. Web site: School of Physics and Astronomy Newsletter, December 2006, Issue 1 . dead . . 2008-02-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070703075843/http://www.physics.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/Williams%20newsletter%20Dec06.pdf . 3 July 2007 . dmy-all.
  6. Web site: A stellar addition to Physics and Astronomy StaffNet The University of Manchester . 2022-07-17 . www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk.
  7. Book: Pullan, Brian . Michele Abendstern . A History of the University of Manchester 1951–1973 . Manchester University Press . 0-7190-5670-5 . Section 1: 1950s expansion, Chapter 4: Buildings and social relations.
  8. Book: Manchester and its Region: A Survey prepared for The British Association . registration . 1962 . Manchester Local Executive Committee of the British Association . Manchester University Press . Chapter 18: The University of the Future.
  9. Web site: University of Manchester Schuster Annexe . 2022-07-17 . www.hawkinsbrown.com.
  10. Web site: University of Manchester mural restored and relocated – The Twentieth Century Society . c20society.org.uk . 29 July 2023.
  11. Web site: Room Catalogue (The University of Manchester) . 2023-02-13 . www.estates.manchester.ac.uk.
  12. Web site: A stellar addition to Physics and Astronomy StaffNet The University of Manchester . 2023-02-13 . www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk.
  13. Schuster Building . 2023 . Sign on the foyer wall . The University of Manchester . Manchester.