C O N T E X T 1 4 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 35 Gurney family until the 1950s and Elizabeth Fry, the prison reformer, grew up there in the 1780s. After the second world war it was used as a maternity ward, then a golf course and in the early 1960s it became the residence of the first UEA chancellor when the university was in its infancy. Recently refitted for UEA’s law school, the building now houses lecture halls, offices and common rooms. Converting a historic house for institutional use represents many challenges, not least that of retaining character when student facilities, building services and fire-safety measures have to be introduced. In the courtyard behind the house, now the main access to the building from the rest of the campus, we caught a glimpse of a fully conserved donkey wheel, hidden behind protective fencing. We made our way to the main campus, where we stopped to take in the main teaching block (Denys Lasdun, 1964–68, and Fielden and Mawson, 1968–70; listed Grade II). We moved on to the refurbished piazza (the Square, Fielden and Mawson, 1968), one of the site’s most successful spaces leading onto the Street, a small shopping precinct.There were mixed opinions as to the success of the recent extension to Lasdun’s Grade II library of 1968–72. The group had some detailed discussions about the management of the site, which was one of the pilot schemes for Historic England’s (then English Heritage) heritage partnership agreements. There was disagreement within the group as to whether the painting of some of the buildings with Keim mineral coating, including the famous ‘ziggurats’ (Norfolk Terrace and Suffolk Terrace, 1964–68; Grade II*), had been successful. Some in the group felt that the intervention had compromised the integrity of the original design by overlaying the original concrete finish. Others felt that the covering-up of the patched repairs preserved the architects’ design intention. We were shown various other improvements and alterations, including new paving, raised parapets and test areas for new steps. We had a discussion about the potential replacement of the original single-glazed windows to the teaching block (which are currently covered in an obtrusive reflective brown film) and noted that the cathodic protection installed on its towers appeared to have failed. The group welcomed the coordinated approach to all the signage on the campus, which benefits from a unified design and font. The tour ended with a visit to the Sainsbury Centre (1977; Grade II*), still impressive as one of Norman Foster’s early commissions, reclad in 1989 and extended with a new exhibition space in 2004. We thanked our excellent tour leaders and retired to the lawn for a scenic picnic looking over Lasdun’s photogenic ziggurats. Lucie Carayon The ziggurats of Norfolk Terrace and, behind them, the Sainsbury Centre, at the University of East Anglia (Photo: David McDonald) Norman Foster’s Sainsbury Centre forVisual Arts (Photo: Oxyman, Wikimedia Commons)
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