Warwick’s new Oculus building opens tomorrow

The new Oculus building is finally opening its doors to staff and students from tomorrow at 9am.

The £19m flagship Teaching and Learning Building includes two large state-of-the-art tiered lecture theatres, 12 teaching spaces, study areas and a café.

In fact, one of the lecture theatres will be the largest on campus, with 500 seats and a glass and timber roof.

Of the four teaching rooms on the ground floor, three open out into the freshly landscaped area outside the building, providing a unique learning experience for students.

The building also boasts a four-screen video wall in the central atrium, which will host art displays, timetables of upcoming events, and live-streams of lectures.

Vice-President Lawrence Young said: “This has been an exciting project which has involved both staff and students.

“The main focus has been to support the student experience and to provide a unique opportunity for us to explore innovative approaches to teaching and learning in a purpose built facility.”

This is the first time that Warwick campus has ever seen a building dedicated completely to teaching, where no department or service has ownership. Lectures and seminars from across several degree disciplines will now be run in The Oculus.

Students were invited to tour the new learning space on Thursday last week, and many were pleased. Hope Worsdale, the SU’s Education Officer praised the additional study spaces on offer in the building.

She said: “These additions will certainly not solve all study space issues, and we will continue to push the University on that front, but this building provides a whole range of more chilled out work space complete with plenty of plug sockets which is so desperately needed for students.”