NEWS A brand-new building is currently being constructed on Umeå University campus. The building will be over 8,000 square metres and bring the university’s examination activities to the main campus for the first time. The building will also house study spaces, a café and meeting rooms and is inspired by the neighbouring forest grove. “The vision is to enhance and unify the campus in an environmentally and socially sustainable way,” says Mirja Westling, Facilities Planner at Umeå University.
Construction is progressing according to plan and the building is expected to be completed in spring 2025.
Image[Evelina Åberg]Umeå University’s examination facilities have long been at the Östra Paviljongen on Ålidbacken. However, with this lease set to expire, the university has taken the opportunity to identify an inventory of needs to modernise and upgrade its examination facilities.
“Examination activities have undergone a major transformation with a move towards more and more e-exams, so there is a great need for digitised rooms that better meet the needs of the future. We also have significant requirements for students who receive targeted educational support, such as the ability for them to take exams in private,” says Anna Edholm Pohjanen, Head of Examination Services at Umeå University.
Few who have passed Umeå University’s main campus could have missed the large building by Universum, which seemingly climbs up a wooded hill.
It will have a floor area of about 8,500 square metres and will be 80 metres long, spread over seven full and half floors. The building will span the hill and connect the campus via both internal and external stairs. There will be 540 examination spaces, and 34 spaces adapted for students requiring targeted educational support, as well as a café, study spaces and a floor with flexible workplaces for up to 100 people. The building will have three separate entrances and be internally linked to Universum, the Natural Sciences Building and the entire Campus Corridor.
Examination activities will now be integrated with the main campus in Umeå.
“We want to enhance the campus and provide new study spaces, seating areas and places to meet. The building will be centrally located with a café overlooking the pond, main campus and NUS campus,” says Mirja Westling.
The new campus building will house examination rooms, study spaces, a café and meeting rooms.
The building will be over 8,500 square metres and will be linked to Universum and the Natural Sciences Building, as an extension of the main campus in Umeå.
The premises are planned primarily to provide examination facilities, but it will also be possible to use these spaces as lecture theatres. Statistics on exam sessions, student numbers and dates of examination peaks have made it possible to use the premises flexibly and achieve a higher degree of utilisation.
“Exams are not held every day but rather in waves with peaks every five weeks or so. We want to create cutting-edge premises that can be shared to increase our available facilities and be environmentally, economically and socially sustainable,” says Mirja Westling.
The neighbouring forest grove has inspired the architecture as well as the interior of the building, which will feature both a wooden deck and sun staircase facing the forest. An artwork associated with the building, the sculpture ‘Stjärnlikt Grenverk’ (Star-like Branches) by Thomas Hämén, will be placed in a clearing in the forest. The interior will also embrace the forest theme in terms of colour and style, and feature subdued and natural colours and materials.
“We hope it will give students that peace of mind in the moment of attainment during an exam,” says Mirja Westling.
The building has been constructed with sustainability front and centre and in accordance with the principles of Miljöbyggnad Guld, the highest certification given by Sweden’s largest organisation for sustainable building: Sweden Green Building Council.
“A lot of it is to do with materials used, technical smart systems and solar cells, but it also factors in details like the lush green roofs for our insects and good covered bicycle parking spaces. We want to create a sustainable building that fulfils our needs, enhances the campus and becomes a space that students and staff want to use,” says Mirja Westling.
Construction is progressing according to plan and will be completed in spring 2025, with the building to be fully operational by the autumn semester of the same year. In spring 2024, the Language Council at Umeå University was tasked with developing a name proposal for the building. The name will be decided in the autumn.