Rodger Stevens Building

The Roger Stevens Building at Leeds University, completed in 1970, is a reinforced concrete structure designed by the architectural practice Chamberlin Powell and Bon. It occupies a central position on the eastern side of Chancellors Court, the central courtyard in the firm's realised campus plan, surrounded by other CPB buildings to the north, east, west and south. The building is constructed with rendered reinforced concrete, using piers and walls supporting in situ beams and slabs.

Exterior

The west elevation, facing Chancellors Court, comprises four stepped sections descending from right to left, separated by narrow, vertical, external, semi-circular ventilation shafts. Between the second and third sections, an external staircase projects from the façade in semi-circular bays. The two left sections are supported on pilotis of diminishing height as the building levels descend, with a broad internal staircase descending from left to right.

The east elevation overlooks a rectangular pool situated at an intermediate level between Chancellors Court and the lower buildings to the south. The central block features a recessed glazed lower section with a recessed open balcony above; flanking this are fully glazed stair blocks on either side. A sculpture by William Chattaway on the central section overlooks the pool. To the right stands a taller block, raised on pilotis over a ramp from the east that continues beneath the building toward Chancellors Court. A similar block to the left is glazed at ground floor level and recessed above the first floor.

The north elevation echoes the west face to the left, with a canted top section. The Red Route walkway enters at high level towards the centre, and the right hand block is raised over an open staircase that extends to the south.

Interior

Internally, the building contains four ranks of four lecture theatres seating 75 on the west side, and on the east side: four theatres for 100, two for 150, one for 200, and two for 250. The shallow steps of the staircases follow the stepping of the theatres, with doors leading directly into the rows of seating. In the larger theatres, pre-cast beams form the bases of the writing surfaces and seat supports, as well as the ceiling and floor structures. The central core contains stairs, lifts (originally paternosters) and toilets.

The ground floor on the east side is occupied by a cafeteria, fully glazed on three sides and overlooked by a staircase to the west. It features long built-in tables and benches in timber over cast concrete stanchions, with fixed steel table lights fitted with globe glass shades. While some seating and ceilings have been refurbished or renewed, doors to the lecture theatres retain their original carpeted coverings as well as handles.

Historical Context

The Roger Stevens Building was constructed in 1970 as part of the development of Leeds University South Campus by Chamberlin Powell and Bon. Leeds University began as the Yorkshire College of Science in 1877, became part of the Victoria University in 1887, and gained independence in 1904. Early buildings were commissioned from Alfred Waterhouse, including the Great Hall, the Textiles School and the Baines wing. From 1926 until the early 1950s, the northern part of the site was developed with monumental buildings including the Parkinson Building and the Brotherton Library, designed by Lanchester and Lodge.

Chamberlin Powell and Bon won a limited competition to make new additions to the university in 1959 and produced a ground-breaking master plan in 1960. This plan examined the overall workings of the university in detail, including facility usage and movement flows between buildings. These considerations were manifested in pedestrian routes at different levels facilitating efficient movement between areas. The analysis informed the layout and distribution of new buildings and became a template for development plans produced by other architects designing new university campuses in the 1960s and 1970s, beginning with York in 1963. The Leeds plan was subsequently modified and a review was published in 1963 to accommodate an upwardly revised student population, though the proposals were never fully implemented.

The CPB buildings at Leeds were constructed between 1964 and 1976. While all are recognisably by the same practice, stylistic developments can be seen in the later buildings, especially the Roger Stevens Building. The design of the Lecture Theatre block was radically altered around 1965 from that shown in the Development Plans of 1960 and 1963. The 1963 plan showed a central service tower with minimal ground floor accommodation and raked lecture theatres radiating out at upper levels to form a butterfly-wing effect in a truncated oval shape. Chamberlin is largely credited with the revised plan, which prefigures some of CPB's designs for the theatre at the Barbican Arts Centre in London (1971-82).

The architectural practice of Chamberlin Powell and Bon was formed in 1952. All three partners were teaching at Kingston School of Architecture at Kingston College of Art when each entered a design competition to build housing for the Corporation of the City of London at Golden Lane. Geoffry Powell won and by previous agreement joined with the others to realise the project. In the first phase of Golden Lane, completed in 1957, the landscaping is conceived as part of total urban design. A later phase, completed in 1962, shows the partnership adopting elements of Le Corbusier's architecture, expressed most forcefully in Crescent House. This tougher style, in which new techniques in concrete forms and textures came to the fore, was adopted for all their mature work, including the Barbican in the City of London and Leeds University.

The practice was subsequently asked to develop a design for the adjacent, much larger Barbican area, which was built between 1963 and 1976 in parallel with the development of the Leeds campus. The extended time scales for building the Barbican and Leeds University resulted in stylistic developments throughout their construction, but the basic principles of urban planning, integrated facilities and brutalist architecture are common to both. The Leeds University project ranks with the Barbican in terms of scale and significance.