Exhibition highlights new campus's transformation of Brighton gateway

On view in the dramatic foyer of Elm House, the Big Build Stories exhibition includes a raft of memorable images captured by local resident Rikki Suter as she watched the university's transformation of the area take shape over the past four years. Rikki's images are complemented by pictures from inside the construction process, as well as images taken by the university's Vice Chancellor Debra Humphris on her regular visits to watch the new campus evolve.

The exhibition provides a powerful visual celebration of the contribution of a host of partners in the university's hugely ambitious regeneration of Moulsecoomb, including a stunning modern footbridge installed over Lewes Road earlier this year to link Elm House with a soaring quintet of eye-catching Manhattan-style high-rise student residences.

The new campus not only creates a striking new gateway for Brighton & Hove on the Lewes Road, but embodies the university's long-term investment in providing a world-class experience for its students, as well as making a positive impact on the immediate neighbourhood and the wider city community.

Rikki, who has lived in the area for 27 years, said: “The transformation of this part of the city by the University of Brighton has been absolutely amazing, with the new footbridge the icing on the cake! It was so exciting to watch it being lifted into place, and it fits so well alongside the new buildings.

“I've always enjoyed taking photos of things like cranes, and then I thought it would be great to do a before and after project about the 'Big Build'. Watching it develop over the years has been brilliant - each building bringing something different in style, with wow factors like the use of coloured tiles.”

Planning and preparing the Elm House exhibition has also provided valuable practical experience for both undergraduate and postgraduate students at the university's School of Art and Media. Students were closely involved at all stages of creating the Big Build Stories exhibition, including formatting all images, creating a showreel video, plus printing, mounting and hanging the images.

School of Art and Media senior lecturer Dr Uschi Klein, who curated the exhibition, said: “It was important for the student experience, as they could see how things worked in industry too and what sort of equipment was used. Hanging the show also helped students to think about putting images together that came from different contributors and had different stories to tell.

“This was a great team effort from both staff and students in the School of Art and Media. From my perspective, these images also reflect on the interviews I have conducted with those involved with the Big Build development from its beginning some 12 years ago. They reveal how important it is for the university to make many of the spaces available to the community, and having Rikki involved was a real delight.”