University of the West of Scotland (UWS) is a large, modern, multi-campus University with its origins dating back to 1897. UWS is one of the country’s largest modern universities and was recognised as being in the top 600 of universities worldwide by Times Higher Education in their World University Rankings 2020.
At UWS, they pride themselves in investing in their students’ future with graduates going out into the world ready to succeed thanks to their industry-relevant courses, an innovative approach to teaching and cutting-edge facilities. UWS came to Dams for guidance on how to turn the ground floor of the student union into a space that was attractive to students.
This space was located in an area of the building that was not being used and had different types of furniture that were not cohesive. UWS wanted to tie everything together with a uniform flow as you moved throughout the space and bring unity to the rooms. The idea was to create a fun and interactive space while also providing an area for gathering, socialising, studying and group work. Just as important, the product had to be durable enough to withstand use by a large number of students, but still flexible to allow them to move it around if they chose.
By using the Alban soft seating family in grey with a secondary bright, vibrant colour, this created a space that could accommodate groups in comfort and style, with the addition of some single booths with canopies and laptop tables to work in private. The Dams team were able to give privacy to the students working while keeping the space open, so the Soli private workstations were selected as a great place for individuals to seek refuge away the busy, hectic environment by creating a compact, secluded working area.
Karma and Enable worktables offered a dynamic, collaborative area for the modern trend of agile working, providing an inspirational and welcoming work area. Matching seating with the Bop stools and Twist chairs providing versatility and functionality while blending nicely with the environment. And these seating options could be moved around to suit the students for socialising time or study time.
UWS were looking for quality, durable products that were also fresh and fun for the students. They found that Dams Social Spaces portfolio was able to provide several design solutions to help them create the ideal setting for their space.