Bute Building

{{Short description|University building in Cardiff, Wales}}

{{Distinguish|Bute House}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=May 2015}}

File:Bute Building Cardiff.jpg

The Bute Building ({{langx|cy|Adeilad Bute}}) is a Cardiff University building in Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales. It houses the Welsh School of Architecture. It is a Grade II listed building.{{cite web|title=Bute Building|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-13739-bute-building-castle|publisher=British Listed Buildings|accessdate=2013-03-21}}

The neoclassical building was designed by architects Percy Thomas and Ivor Jones, who won a competition in 1911 to design a building for Cardiff Technical College.{{cite web|url = https://biography.wales/article/s2-THOM-EDW-1883 |title = Thomas, Sir Percy Edward (1883–1969)|publisher = National Library of Wales|accessdate = 2009-05-24}} The foundations of the building were laid in 1913 and the building opened in 1916.{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Np_H_j3hXUEC&q=percy+thomas+bute+building&pg=PA167|title = The companion guide to Wales By David Barnes|isbn = 9781900639439|accessdate = 2009-05-24|last1 = Barnes|first1 = David|year = 2005}}{{cite web |url=http://www.indin2009.com/node/10 |title=INDIN 2009 24–26th June 2009, Cardiff UK |publisher=Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |accessdate=2009-05-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624054457/http://www.indin2009.com/node/10 |archive-date=24 June 2009 }} The building has six Roman Doric columns in the front of the building and includes the Birt Acres Lecture Theatre.{{cite web|url = http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/31905/details/technical+college%3Bbute+building%3Buniversity+of+wales+institute+of+science+and+technology,+cathays+park,+cardiff/|title = Technical College; Bute Building; University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, Cathays Park, Cardiff|publisher = Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales|accessdate = 2009-05-24|archive-date = 6 February 2010|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100206160112/http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/31905/details/TECHNICAL+COLLEGE%3BBUTE+BUILDING%3BUNIVERSITY+OF+WALES+INSTITUTE+OF+SCIENCE+AND+TECHNOLOGY%2C+CATHAYS+PARK%2C+CARDIFF/|url-status = dead}}{{cite web|url = http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/estat/roombookings/cathays/bute/161bute/index.html|title = Pool Room 1.61, Birt Acres Lecture Theatre, Bute Building|publisher = Cardiff University|accessdate = 2009-05-24|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110605215708/http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/estat/roombookings/cathays/bute/161bute/index.html|archive-date = 5 June 2011|url-status = dead}} The design has been called "disappointingly conventional"{{cite book|author=John Newman|title=Glamorgan: Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DpUMspCtpNIC&pg=PA114|year=1995|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-14-071056-6|pages=114}}

In 1962 the Technical college became the Welsh College of Advanced Technology{{cite web |title=Records of Cardiff's Technical Colleges, 1866-1988 |url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/10f4c202-37f3-3508-995a-82086416567d |access-date=14 March 2021}} and in 1968 the Bute Building became the main building of the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST). It now houses the Welsh School of Architecture and the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies.{{cite web |title=The Cathays Park Campus A self-guided tour |url=https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/129733/tour.pdf |publisher=Cardiff University |access-date=14 March 2021}} It also contained two libraries, the Bute Library and Architecture Library.{{cite book|author=Dic Mortimer|title=Cardiff The Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_pkFBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT143|date=15 October 2014|publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited|isbn=978-1-4456-4251-2|pages=143}}

The UK's largest Sky Dome, an artificial sky 8 metres in diameter run by the School of Architecture and used for daylight modelling and sun-path studies, is located in the basement of the building.{{cite news|title=Cardiff school reaches for the artificial sky|url=http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/home/cardiff-school-reaches-for-the-artificial-sky/770542.article|work=Architects' Journal|date=25 March 1999}}