Building Review: The Edge

From dangling balls to screaming walls: a weird and wonderful insight into life at the Edge.

By Olly Ridgley

The peculiarly named ‘The Edge’ is undeniably modern in both form and function. Costing close to £11 million, the shipping container like cladding encases performance spaces, some terrific gallery spaces, teaching spaces, theatre spaces, spaces to paint in, spaces to rehearse in – catering for all your artistic desires.

Everything so far seems normal. Most of what you would want, expect, or need in a brand spanking new arts complex. However, there is a curiously large array of oddities.

Orbs of light are dangled from the sky in no apparent pattern or formation. The entrance is partially surrounded by mirrors, for no discernible reason other than to spite the person whose job it is to keep said mirrors clean. The concrete stairways look as though they should lead to a 1980’s Bond villain’s nuclear submarine silo. There are strange multicoloured, hanging horizontal panels above the cafe. One exhibition space is currently occupied solely by an overly emotional wall: a psychedelic experience I would thoroughly recommend whilst mildly inebriated. The concrete columns are so lovely to the touch, I would urge anyone and everyone to have a feel. Funky lounge music that rivals even that of Nando’s.

There is method in the madness of this design. The hanging orbs bring light into a deep plan space. The horizontal panels are acoustic dampeners. The mirrored panel above the front door makes what would otherwise be quite a dark entrance feel a lot bigger and brighter. Even the cladding is clever. Certain sections are perforated to allow ventilation into the spaces that need it, whilst still maintaining an impressive monolithic exterior.

The fourth floor dance studios feature giant north facing windows, providing not only a view but also the best kind of light for visual activities, bright with less glare.

The most exciting space of the building lies at its heart, a huge opening that bathes the cafe in sunlight, and allows the smell of coffee to waft all the way up to the third floor balcony.

The exterior has divided opinion, with some criticising its likeness to an industrial unit, while others maintain the use of corrugated aluminium is an excellent example of contemporary cladding.

Despite its flaws which are few and far between, I find the building strangely likeable, with its various inexplicable hanging appendages and quirky installations. This is by far the best recent building on campus, especially given the ever increasing complexities that surround building at The University of Bath. Time and cost constraints, amongst other challenges, have troubled other recent projects, yet The Edge still brings some madness to an otherwise sensible campus - for this reason it deserves our approval.