The University begun life as the University College Wales which was established in Aberystwyth in 1872. In 1929, a wealthy alumnus of the college, Joseph Davies Bryan (1864-1935), purchased the former Penglais Estate on a hillside east of Aberystwyth which was by then part of the federal University of Wales. This provided the land required for the college to expand. In 1935, the architect (Sir) Percy Thomas (1883-1969) drew up plans to develop the site, proposing a grand formal scheme of continuous ranges of which three buildings were built: the now Grade II listed Cledwyn Main Building (1937), Grade II Pantycelyn Halls of Residence (designed in 1939 and built in 1950-60) and the swimming baths. This plan was replaced in 1957 by one by Sir William Holford & Partners, which proposed small groups of 4- to 6-storey blocks dispersed around the hillside. This led to the construction of the Penbryn Halls of Residence (1960-5). In 1965 the Percy Thomas practice officially returned to oversee the development of the campus and a new masterplan was drawn up by practice architect Ivor Dale Owen.
Construction began on the Llandinam Building in 1963, it was completed in 1965 and was officially opened on 12th October 1966 by Mr Cledwyn Hughes, Secretary of State for Wales and former student at Law department. It was built to accommodate the Geography & Geology Department and New Economic & Social Studies. There was increasing interest in the social sciences in the post-war period, and greater awareness of the interrelationships between the various fields of study within the discipline. At the time, the practice of teaching the social sciences at the university had been redesigned, and Economics had been introduced as a new degree. The university stated that, “In the new faculty we are going to make a serious and determined effort to move away from the old concept of atomised departments, independent in their administration and teaching, and to move much closer to the concept of a faculty as a single, integrated teaching and administrative unit.” (Liverpool Daily Post, 26 October 1965, supplement, p.5). The final cost of the new social sciences building was £985,000.
The Llandinam Building is a bold, eye-catching design, built of concrete-framed construction, its elevations composed of a mixture of aluminium- and steel-framed glazing and precast concrete cladding panels containing white Carrara marble chippings. As explained in an archive document (‘The Building’), the cladding finish was chosen “for its qualities of permanence and in order to form a subdued background to the rather more colourful Physical Sciences building adjacent to it.”
The building is characterised by a landmark 10-storey corner tower block, which provided a focal point to the Penglais site. This tower contained the Geography department. The other departments were accommodated in separate blocks, connected by ancillary accommodation. This layout gave each department a sense of individuality, while ensuring that they were all brought together on one site.
The building was laid out to create open spaces which provided a place of relaxation, permitted clear views to the west and also offered shelter from the strong west wind. It enclosed a courtyard which incorporated a reflection pool with three fountains.
The building was commended (in Group B) in the Civil Trust Awards 1968. This described the building’s site as one of the most difficult in the university and praised the way in which the several science departments have been effectively combined in one building.
As the first purpose-built home for the department, the building incorporates both the expected facilities of a splendid drawing office, map and atlas room and library, but also less common features for the time that illustrated the manner in which physical, social, and historical geography were brought together to form a new multi-disciplinary department. It contained survey and photogrammetry labs, pedology and biogeography labs, climatology and hydrology facilities, and workshops for the maintenance and manufacture of field equipment. While the desired (for the geologists to convert into a rock store) underground carpark was not included, a lift was incorporated of a size and shape to transport marine cores to the top floor marine lab. It also contained both an honours lab and teaching labs, in which the petrology benches were specifically laid out to encourage interaction and group work and move away from ‘blackboard facing lecturing’. There was a purpose designed geochemistry lab on the ground floor with ventilation pipes for fume cupboards externally expressed. Photography darkrooms were also provided. The original seminar room with chandeliers was lost to the expansion of the honours lab in later years. The building also contained a main lecture theatre for 168 students. All laboratory furniture was architect-designed to the individual requirements of the departments.
The building is structurally innovative. It was constructed using a specially-designed double-spanning waffle floor system which eliminated the need for internal columns or crossing beams below ceilings which could limit the adaptability and flexibility of the interiors. Glass fibre moulds were used for the shuttering, producing a high quality finish to the concrete.
The construction of the tower block was also tailored to suit the needs of Geography department staff. Staff requested that the columns in their rooms be as small as possible. To achieve this, the top 6 floors are supported on a massive reinforced concrete slab structure (4’ 6’’ thick) at third floor level which is then transferred to huge columns passing through the lower three floors.
In the joint reading room, which is a particularly large space, the architects were able to create an open space with the ceiling spanning the space without column supports. They achieved this by treating the rooflights as Vierendeel girders, constructed of reinforced concrete and supported on solid concrete walls which internally concealed the services and held bookcases.
S Fielding RCAHMW January 2025
Refs:
Supplement: ‘The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth’, Liverpool Daily Post (26 October 1965).
‘The Architecture’ – document on the Llandinam Building (Aberystwyth University archive)
Teacher In Wales June 28 68: 50 years of progress
E. G., Carter, H. And Taylor, J. A. (Eds.) Bowen Geography at Aberystwyth (1968, University of Wales Press)
Anthony Wyatt A Turbid Tale: Geology at Aberystwyth (2000, Berkeley)
E L Ellis The University College of Wales 1872-1972 (1972, University of Wales Press)