Hopkins Architects-led team to design first phase of business + tech-driven Milton Keynes University

Scheduled to open in 2023, the business-oriented MK:U will focus on digital economy skills, new technologies, business-and-entrepreneurial courses, design thinking, and professional and commercial skills to ensure students are equipped for the 21st-century workplace. It'll also offer fast-track, two-year undergraduate degrees.

The proposal is “an open quarter with a bold new urban frontage made up of a series of orthogonal academic pavilions, as a way to showcase the university’s activities in new technologies like AI and robotics; their vision taking its inspiration from the famous infinity street at MIT in the U.S.”, the design team describes.

The scheme “both echoes the format of the original MK vision with calm super-rational buildings surrounded by greenery, while also envisaging a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly future. A new civic realm for the proposed new university quarter includes a graduation lawn and formal water feature. The forum, the scheme’s centerpiece, is immediately recognizable with an eye-catching drum-shaped red lecture theatre within the glass entrance lobby, reminiscent of a giant friendship bead, which is welcoming to students, visitors and locals”.

The proposal will continue to undergo further development. The MK:U project is expected to be delivered in three phases and will be complete within 15 years. The fully built university is projected to serve 15,000 students.

You can learn more about the winning design and all the shortlisted proposals here.

Full team credits: Hopkins Architects with Prior + Partners, Expedition Engineering, Atelier Ten, GROSS. MAX., Buro 4, RLB Schumann, GRFN, Caneparo Associates, QCIC, Nick Perry Associates, Access=Design, Cordless Consultants, Sandy Brown Associates, FMDC and Tricon.