School of Art, Wolverhampton University and Echelons with Concrete Pillars

Summary

Art College, designed in the Brutalist idiom with a striking geometric exoskeleton, 1966-1969, by Diamond Redfern and Partners. The fifth iteration of an art college in Wolverhampton, dating from a period of significant pedagogic reform.

Reasons for Designation

The School of Art at Wolverhampton University is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a striking slab block with a bold geometric exoskeleton of pre-cast, slender concrete panels exhibiting the influence of Pop Art in architecture, with a recessed curtain wall creating a facade with considerable depth and dynamism;
* a good example of a post-war art college built in the manner of a flatted factory, as established at the Royal College of Art, and retaining architectural features and fixtures which illustrate its specialist function;
* the general structure, which was designed with flexibility in mind, survives very well;
* the building stands out within the typology of post-war art colleges, of which, very few have been listed;
* inclusion of a contemporary sculpture by Hubert Dalwood, Echelons with Concrete Pillars, a site-specific work, commissioned to mark the inauguration of the college, and an example of the important artist’s late work.

Historic interest:

* the fifth iteration of an art college in the town, which was early in the provision of dedicated facilities for art and design education with the first school purpose-built in 1854;
* as one of the first tranche of art colleges accredited to provide the National Diploma of Art and Design following post-war reforms, signalling the importance of art and design education in the former industrial area, and of a bold form reflecting the confidence of the institution in the period;
* for the close association with the Blk Art Group and the First National Black Art Convention, giving rise to the British black art movement.

History

The former Wolverhampton College of Art (now known as the School of Art, or MK Building, at the University of Wolverhampton) dates from 1966-1969 to the designs of Diamond Redfern and Partners in association with the Borough Architect.

The original ‘Government Schools of Design’ were set up in the 1840s. This semi-publicly funded system was established to raise standards in British manufacturing, with first provincial institutions established in areas of industry. Wolverhampton was an early proponent, established in 1851 and attaining purpose-built premises in 1854, with claims as being one of the earliest purpose-built art schools in the country, now demolished. The school moved to new building adjoining the art gallery and museum (listed at Grade II*), which opened in 1885, before another building to the rear, known as the art gallery annex (listed at Grade II), was acquired in the early C20.

The post-war period saw reforms in art education following the Coldstream Report and the introduction of a National Diploma in Art and Design (DipAD). Wolverhampton was one of the first tranche of colleges accredited to provide this new, degree-equivalent course. Accredited institutions received investment from central Government for capital works, and Wolverhampton’s new college was designed in 1965. The architects, Diamond Redfern and Partners are understood to have been commissioned after the Borough Architect, Alfred Chapman, had drawn up an outline concept. The design process was supported by the Ministry of Education, which provided specialist advice to ensure such buildings met the exacting requirements. Construction began in 1966 with its completion in 1969, coinciding with the College of Art merging with the College of Technology to form Wolverhampton Polytechnic. The building was then known as the Faculty of Art and Design with its first courses starting in September 1969. A plaque records the opening of the building in October 1970 by Sir Charles Wheeler, Honorary Freeman of the Borough, past president of the Royal Academy (London).

This new building sought to bring the various disciplines associated with art and design education under one roof, having been spread across several buildings in the town up until then. It was comprised of a main eight-storey faculty block with basement, a single-storey printing school, a single-storey sculpture yard, and a caretaker’s house. Subjects to be accommodated included fine art, graphic design, ceramics, dress design, photography, architecture, and interior and industrial design. The workshops and studio spaces were supported by ancillary facilities including an exhibition hall, library, lecture theatre, common rooms and administrative offices.

In 1972, a sculpture by Hubert Dalwood (1924-1976) was unveiled to the south-west of the building entitled ‘Echelons with Concrete Pillars’, commissioned to mark the inauguration of the new college.

The college has several highly regarded alumni, and also has a close association with the Blk Art Group, formed in 1979, many of whose founding members were students at the polytechnic. The group sought to empower and raise the profile of black artists during a period in which racial tensions were common, and black art and artists were under-represented within mainstream art institutions. Members of the group were largely children of Caribbean migrants, raised in the industrial West Midlands. Their first exhibition, ‘Black Art An’ Done’, was held at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in 1981. The group organised the ‘First National Black Art Convention’ in October 1982, held at the College of Art, which is recognised as key to the formation of the British black art movement.

Details

Faculty block to the former college of art, 1966-1969, Diamond Redfern and Partners in association with Wolverhampton Borough Architect A Chapman.

Printing school and sculpture yard linked to north-east of the faculty block, and caretaker’s house to the west are not included in the listing.

MATERIALS: constructed on a reinforced in-situ concrete frame with slabs and deep ribs all showing the sawn board shuttering. Black facing brick to the lower storeys. Glazed curtain walling and screen of precast concrete modular units.

PLAN: the building stands on the north side of the roughly contemporary city ring road. The faculty block is rectangular, orientated east-west, with a recess on either end.

The faculty block is planned as a flatted factory, with a central service core with passenger and goods lifts extending to a basement-level vehicle loading bay. Plans show the internal arrangements on each floor, laid out for specific activities though intended for flexibility. Some floors with split levels.

EXTERIOR: eight storeys above a basement. The upper seven floors have a screen of pre-cast modular units; each unit has three panels each containing an opening with canted corners. Top floor has modified panels, with an additional horizontal opening and heightened to form a parapet. The panels are hung from the concrete frame, with vertical ribs and recessed storey bands between each unit. Aluminium-framed curtain wall glazing is set back from the screen. Ground floor and basement are faced in black brick, rusticated to form raised vertical panels. The south elevation has the main entrance, slightly above ground level and reached by a raised walkway with metal balustrade. A wide break in the brickwork marks the entrance, which was originally set back, now infilled with doors and windows. Sloping ground provides level access to the basement on the rear elevation; there are wide recessed entrances and loading areas leading to the service core of the building. The screen continues around the shorter east and west elevations, with a vertical split formed by a deep brick recess marking the service core.

INTERIOR: the faculty block has a central service core containing a pair of passenger lifts and main stair, with a goods lift, secondary stair, stores and WCs. Studios, workshops and offices laid out around the perimeter of the building. Internal partitions are largely fair-faced brickwork, painted; some later partitioning and subdivision. Deep concrete ceiling beams, painted, running between core and elevations. Varnished timber used for doors, folding screen partitions, cupboards, acoustic screens. Doors to specialist areas are full storey height with fixed or knock-open panel above, and are faced with black wareite. Open-well stair within concrete compartment with distinct shutter marks, concrete stair with deep timber handrail and balustrade rail with tubular steel uprights, with a later handrail surmounted. Ribbed rubber floor coverings survive in some areas.

Original plans specify the disciplines to be accommodated, with variations to the plan to meet specific requirements, such double-height spaces for the photography studios and exhibition hall, and split levels to create additional height in the wood-workshops and library. There has been a degree of reconfiguration, including the lateral subdivision of one photography studio, and the infilling of the exhibition hall gallery, as well as subdivision, the creation of corridors, and unification of rooms on various levels. Some areas retain specialist fixtures including gantries and benches. Alterations to partitioning in various areas, as would have been intended.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: south-west of faculty block is a sculpture, ‘Echelons with Concrete Pillars’, by Hubert Dalwood. Concrete, a triangular platform with a formation of columns with angled tops diminishing in height, with fins in their wake.

Sources

Books and journals
Stephens, C, The Sculpture of Hubert Dalwood, (1999), 134
Foster, A, Pevsner, N, Wedgwood, A, The Buildings of England: Birmingham and the Black Country, (2022)

Websites
Looking Back: First National Black Art Convention held at University, University of Wolverhampton, accessed 27/03/2025 from https://www.wlv.ac.uk/current-students/news/october-2020/looking-back-first-national-black-art-convention-held-at-university.php
'The BLK Art Group', Christabel Samuel, 10/12/2018, Black History Month, accessed 27/03/2025 from https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/real-stories/the-blk-art-group/

Other
‘£900,000 Faculty of Art completed’, Birmingham Daily Post, 22 November 1966, 2
‘College of Art, Wolverhampton: Sculptural façade for new arts building’, Building, 2 January 1970
‘Indestructible, unclimbable – and the winner’, Express and Star, 10 October 1969, 3
‘Faculty of Art and Design – Wolverhampton Polytechnic’, Architecture West Midlands (November 1970), 16-17
‘MK Building, Wolverhampton College of Art: assessment of significance, Donald Insall Associates, September 2024
Wolverhampton City Archives, 1965, Architect's plans of College of Art, Wolverhampton, ref DX-894/10/22
'The BLK Art Group' , The Reunion, BBC Radio 4, 15 September 2023 9am, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qdg4

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