The Welcoming Campus: Public Art Strategy

A green, white and purple graphic with the title: "The Welcoming Campus: Art, People, and Nature in Dialogue. A Public Art Strategy for North East Quadrant Highfield Campus Southampton."

The Welcoming Campus: Public Art Strategy. Image; UP Projects

In 2025, UP Projects were appointed to develop a public art strategy for the North East Quadrant (NEQ) development at the University of Southampton’s HIghfield campus.

Forming part of the wider Highfield campus, the NEQ once complete in 2027, will provide much needed new cutting-edge teaching and learning spaces, and new public realm, enhancing the experience of staff and students. 

Embedding art within campus life has long been a priority for the University of Southampton, first established in 1956 through Basil Spence’s masterplan for Highfield that embedded sculpture by Barbara Hepworth and F E Mc Williams. 

The public art strategy for the North East Quadrant has been conceived to 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. 

Below we summarise the key principles and themes outlined within the public art strategy which you can download in full by clicking on the button on the right.

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.  

Community engagement activity facilitated by artist, Vanessa Rolf supported the development of the public art strategy with workshops being held with students from Cantell School, Basset Green Primary School, Swaythling Primary School, community settings with local residents, alongside workshops for students at SUSU (Southampton University Student Union) and Winchester School of Art.   

UP Projects has now been commissioned to deliver on the strategy realising three new commissions at NEQ. It is envisaged that commissions will then be realised in line with the wider construction timeline for the North East Quadrant.  

The North East Quadrant public art strategy is commissioned by the University of Southampton with strategic input from its cultural venues, Turner Sims and John Hansard Gallery.