Accommodating 444 high quality student bedrooms, The View stands at 18 storeys, with its striking blue exterior visible on Newcastle's skyline from many approaches into the city. The scheme is the final phase in the Downing Plaza Development, for which we produced the masterplan.
The View increases in height from the back of the building (west) to the front (east), where it relates to the higher scale city centre. Its bold colours visually define it amongst the other Downing Plaza buildings, making it a marker for the development and the wider area.
The texture and colour of the reflective glass and metal panels generate a dynamic and animated façade that responds to shifting viewpoints and changing environmental conditions. Seven shades of vibrant blue panels organised in a vertical random pattern become lighter as the building rises. Glass panels address the city facing elevation, while metal panels are used on the elevations facing the previous phases of the Downing Plaza development.
Fully glazed entrance areas and lobby spaces create an active frontage at ground level allowing views into the most public areas of the building. Retail and communal student areas are defined by glass curtain walling at ground level creating a clear distinction between how the building addresses the streetscape and the cityscape.