The Times

24 November 2003
Stephen Gardiner

You would hardly expect to find a true work of modern architecture close to a masterpiece of the past - battles with conservationists normally prevent such a move. Not so on the campus of the newly founded University of Lincoln Brayford Pool, which has dramatic views of the Norman castle dating back to 1068 and the magnificent cathedral dating from 1072.

Overlooking the Pool is the first building of this brave bid to concentrate in one place the University's scattered origins in Hull and Grimsby. This is the school of architecture, opened three weeks ago and designed by Rick Mather, the winner in 2001 of a competition sponsored by the East Midlands Development Agency to develop a masterplan for the University. Following this, on a site next to it, will be the art centre, also a prizewinner by Rick Mather..

A long, very rich history lies behind these exiting proposals. Before the Norman period of architecture, the Romans had been busy establishing Brayford Pool as an inland port for their transport system, with connections to the sea via the River Witham.

This large pool, now home to a huge assembly of white swans was a centre for the wool trade in the 1200s and became a business area of long standing. Grain stores were built, and the Industrial Revolution brought the railway. Latterly known as the Brayford Pool industrial centre, it was chosen as the site for the new university, partly as a way to inspire the regeneration of the old cathedral city. The next distinctive phase of the project will be in and around Mather's buildings, delightfully sited behind trees along the water's edge.

Like all Norman architecture, what is striking about Lincoln cathedral is its sense of clarity, its purity. Absolute simplicity is achieved by a positive, creamy white sculptural form. And it is the spirit of this that Mather captures. He has as he says made "a strong sculptural statement" which preserves and enhances views back to the city and the cathedral, so making sure his building becomes an integral part of the whole. A dazzling contribution is made here, a fearless, imaginative piece of work - which is just what an architecture school should be if it is to fire students' creativity.

The building is white and startling in its waterside setting: an emphatic, cubist form finished in the smoothest effect that render can achieve, as sharp as some perfect piece of carving.

The outside echoes the inside: with space for exhibitions, lectures, and performance. And the inevitable café. A white interior surrounds a dramatic central staircase. This determination to integrate interior and exterior provides strength throughout, as much in the master plan as in the completed building. The aim of the plan with its network of spaces and gardens, its strong form, is to integrate old and new parts of the city so that each belongs to the other. It is achieved with great panache.