The Welcoming Campus Commissions

Render of North East Quadrant. Courtesy of Shepard Robson Architects

UP Projects have been appointed to commission three new public artworks for the North East Quadrant (NEQ) development at the University of Southampton’s Highfield campus.

All three commissions will respond to the themes laid out in The Welcoming Campus: Art People and Nature in Dialogues - the public art strategy for NEQ also developed by UP Projects. It is envisaged that the public art offer for the NEQ will activate the designs for the public realm and support the University’s broader ambitions to create a welcoming, inclusive and sustainable place for students, staff and neighbouring communities to enjoy. 

Public art is envisaged to be developed through meaningful engagement with University communities, local partners, and the wider city, encouraging shared ownership and the exchange of knowledge. As the NEQ evolves, it is hoped that public art will serve as a unifying thread between the campus’s green and blue spaces.

Key Principles 

  1. Connecting Communities: The new commissions will encourage collaboration and dialogue between the campus, local partners, and the wider city. 
  2. Reflecting Diversity: The new commissions should be accessible, engaging, and inclusive; and enable people from all backgrounds to see themselves reflected in the public realm. 
  3. Responding to Nature: The new commissions will be integrated into the landscape to celebrate ecological systems and respect natural materials. 
  4. Supporting Environmental Sustainability: The new commissions will prioritise environmental sustainability from the outset. 

Themes:  

  1. Knowledge Exchange: Promote non-hierarchical dialogue and sharing ideas between the University, city, and its wider communities. 
  2. Wellbeing: Enhance the physical and mental wellbeing of the campus community, offering moments of pause and calm in the busy academic setting. 
  3. Play: Putting play at the centre of the campus experience, inviting intergenerational users to be creative in their interaction with their surroundings. 

UP Projects, in partnership with John Hansard Gallery, invited artists to submit expressions of interest for Play the Campus, a commissioning opportunity to realise a series of playful interventions across the NEQ campus. The open call has now closed.