Schuster Laboratory
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2015}}
{{Infobox building
| name = Schuster Laboratory
| native_name =
| image = At Manchester 2023 2023 006.jpg
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| former_names =
| building_type = Academic teaching and research
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| location = Manchester
| owner = The University of Manchester
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| coordinates = {{coord|53|28|1.71|N|2|13|50.62|W|display=inline,title}}
| start_date =
| completion_date = 1967{{cite web | url=http://www.hep.man.ac.uk/babarph/schuster.html | title=The Schuster Laboratory | first=George | last=Lafferty | date=23 February 2000 | accessdate=2008-02-27}}
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| floor_count = 7
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| architect = Fairhurst, Harry S. & Sons{{cite web | url=http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/buildings/who-built.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021018220536/http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/buildings/who-built.html | url-status=usurped | archive-date=18 October 2002 | title=Manchester Buildings and the Architects who built Manchester? | first=John | last=Moss | date=6 January 2006 | accessdate = 2008-02-17}}
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| awards =
}}
The Schuster Laboratory (also known as the Schuster Building) houses the Department of Physics and Astronomy, part of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, at the University of Manchester. It is named after Arthur Schuster and is located in Brunswick Park (formerly Brunswick Street{{Cite web |title=Brunswick Park officially opens (The University of Manchester) |url=https://www.socialresponsibility.manchester.ac.uk/news/september-2018/brunswick-park-officially-opens/ |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=www.socialresponsibility.manchester.ac.uk}}) on the main campus of the university.
The building was designed by Fairhurst, Harry S. & Sons, of the Fairhurst Design Group, and was completed in 1967. The roof of the largest lecture theatre in the building has an abstract sculpture by Michael Piper on it.{{cite book | title=Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester | first=Terry |last=Wyke | year=2004 | publisher=Liverpool University Press | isbn=0-85323-567-8}} In 2007, the existing labs and offices were refurbished.{{cite web |title=School of Physics and Astronomy Newsletter, December 2006, Issue 1 |url=http://www.physics.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/Williams%20newsletter%20Dec06.pdf |url-status=dead |format=PDF |accessdate=2008-02-17 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703075843/http://www.physics.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/Williams%20newsletter%20Dec06.pdf |archivedate=3 July 2007 |df=dmy-all}} The Schuster Annexe, opened by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, was added in 2018.{{Cite web |title=A stellar addition to Physics and Astronomy {{!}} StaffNet {{!}} The University of Manchester |url=https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/news/display/?id=20944 |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk}}
Architecture
The Schuster Laboratory was built during a time of expansion for the university, with the construction of a new Science Quadrangle. The Schuster Building was one of the later buildings constructed on this Quadrangle. The Electrical Engineering Laboratory, on the south side, was completed by 1954.{{cite book | first=Brian | last=Pullan |author2=Michele Abendstern | title=A History of the University of Manchester 1951–1973 | publisher=Manchester University Press | isbn=0-7190-5670-5 | chapter=Section 1: 1950s expansion, Chapter 4: Buildings and social relations}} This was followed by the Simon Engineering Laboratories on the south-west of the quadrangle, finished in mid-1962, and the Chemistry building on the south-east which was completed by October 1964. The Schuster Laboratories had been approved, and planning was nearly completed, by the end of August 1962.{{cite book | title=Manchester and its Region: A Survey prepared for The British Association | url=https://archive.org/details/manchesteritsreg0000brit | url-access=registration | year=1962 | author=Manchester Local Executive Committee of the British Association | publisher = Manchester University Press | chapter=Chapter 18: The University of the Future}}
The Schuster Annexe was designed by Hawkins Brown and was completed in 2017. It contains additional laboratories and offices, as well as dedicated areas for group work and collaboration.{{Cite web |title=University of Manchester Schuster Annexe |url=https://www.hawkinsbrown.com/projects/university-of-manchester-schuster-annexe |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=www.hawkinsbrown.com}}
The mosaic The Alchemist’s Elements (1967, Hans Tisdall) was mounted on the building in 2022.{{cite web |title=University of Manchester mural restored and relocated – The Twentieth Century Society |url=https://c20society.org.uk/news/manchester-university-mural-restored-and-relocated |website=c20society.org.uk |access-date=29 July 2023}}
Facilities
File:Schuster Annex, Manchester 2017 01.jpg
File:At Manchester 2023 2023 007.jpg]]
The building houses four lecture theatres around the foyer on the ground floor named after people who taught or researched in the department: Rutherford, Bragg, Blackett, and Moseley (seating 258, 148, 145, and 155, respectively).{{Cite web |title=Room Catalogue (The University of Manchester) |url=https://www.estates.manchester.ac.uk/services/centralteachingspaces/ourservices/roomcatalogue/?building=26 |access-date=2023-02-13 |website=www.estates.manchester.ac.uk}} These rooms are centrally allocated by the university, rather than being used solely by the department. There is also a fifth theatre, bearing the name of Jocelyn Bell Burnell, located in the Annexe.{{Cite web |title=A stellar addition to Physics and Astronomy {{!}} StaffNet {{!}} The University of Manchester |url=https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/news/display/?id=20944 |access-date=2023-02-13 |website=www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk}}
There is a meeting room located on the top floor of the South wing of the building called the Niels Bohr Common Room, which also provides access to the rooftop telescope. The building also houses computer and experimental laboratories for both research and teaching purposes.
The building was purpose-built for the Department of Physics and Astronomy and houses six of its groups specialising in:
- Biological Physics;
- Condensed Matter Physics;
- Non-Linear Dynamics and Liquid Crystal Physics;
- Nuclear Physics;
- Particle Physics; and
- Theoretical Physics.{{Cite sign |title=Schuster Building |year=2023 |type=Sign on the foyer wall |publisher=The University of Manchester |location=Manchester}}
The Schuster Building was also home to the Photon Physics group and part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics until they were relocated to the Alan Turing Building in September 2007.
References
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{{University of Manchester}}
Category:Astronomy in the United Kingdom
Category:Buildings at the University of Manchester