Description

BRIGHTON

TQ3408 UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
577-1/11/1131 Falmer House including moat within
30/03/93 courtyard

GV I

Central communal building for the university. 1960-62.
Designed by Sir Basil Spence. Red brick and bare, board-marked
concrete. Timber window frames. Flat roofs with roof-top
projections covered in copper.
PLAN/EXTERIOR: quadrangular form, with partly open ground
floor. Irregular facade of 3 storeys, 'chunkily' detailed,
with brick walls separated at floor height by deep, bare,
board-marked concrete strips. Ground floor arcades and many of
the windows have segmental arches set within the concrete
lintels. Former refectory (now a hall) on west, of 2 storeys
in height, dominated by segmental barrel vault which breaks
above the horizontal parapet of the building. Many 'cells' of
the building on the south and east sides are left unenclosed.
To north side, main staircase is flint-faced and is given
emphasis by V-shaped roof feature.
INTERIOR: contains double height former refectory with
mezzanine, and fine Ivon Hitchens mural; also debating chamber
with complex top-lit octagonally shaped roof and answering
octagonal sunken seating area with segmented timber cover;
also double height common room with 'chunky' timber staircase.
Falmer House was the first building to be constructed on
campus and was designed as its focus. Sussex University is
historically important as the first of the post-war generation
of universities to be founded, planned and built afresh, as a
totality.
(Architectural Review: Birk: Building the New Universities :
October 1963).

Listing NGR: TQ3459008940

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17527959

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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