The Cavendish University campus combines a medical school with a general learning campus. Provision is made for the specific needs of medical tuition through tailor-made laboratories and lecture halls and the university library is divided into two sections to cater for the different book sets of each student body. All of the other facilities; the auditorium, administrative services, courtyards, student residences, cafeteria and sports fields are shared in order to yield greater value and increased usage.

A university campus designed for efficiency and a low carbon footprint.

The design concept for this contemporary university campus is informed by both local material availability and climatic conditions. Lusaka has a humid subtropical climate. To accommodate for this and provide naturally comfortable spaces an introspective courtyard typology is explored. Spaces live out onto cool, shaded and planted courtyards encouraging natural stack ventilation. Direct solar heat gain on external facades is limited, with larger shaded openings into the internal courtyards.

The campus buildings can be likened to ‘geodes’ in that each building has an internal void which provides sanctuary.The external ‘skin’ of the building protects the contained interior communal courtyard spaces. Expression of the contrast between external skin and internal void space is heightened through material use. The material palette includes locally-available blockwork (bag-washed and painted), defining external facades, with red brick applied to internal courtyards. Very limited application of composite timber lattice is also proposed in courtyard spaces with soft roofs providing shelter throughout the project.

The campus master plan optimises the use of the 3.5ha site and maximizes the North-South orientation while accommodating intended future growth. The buildings are located in close proximity to Zambezi Road to give the university a strong visual identity along the main road and parking is located centrally on the site. The sports field and student residences are more discreetly positioned on the eastern side of the site with access to the residences gained from the street and the main campus.

The student residences continue the aesthetic and design concept of the university with three central, shaded courtyards and a communal foyer servicing fifty two-bedroom apartments in each building.