A University Building for Wellbeing Part 1 Project 2019 Malcolm Ebose University of Cambridge | UK This project dives into the deep waters of student mental health and wellbeing through the experiences of Student M. Using conversation, observation, drawing and painting, Student M’s crushing experience of contemporary university life comes into focus. The architectural project is a response to this intense anecdotal encounter and proposes a series of spaces for students at the heart of the university in Manchester. A robust, laconic, stable building - formidable in its construction - yet light in its programme, finds moments of expression and a hidden presence within the city. The building provides facilities for prevention and recovery and declares the university’s commitment to, and responsibility for, wellbeing, building it into the very fabric of the institution. Operating at a range of scales and across a therapeutic spectrum, the project takes an intimate look at the complexity, fragility and robustness required to make connections between people, spaces, gardens and the city. What should a building dedicated to counselling, talking, meeting, discourse and general conversation look like? How can it span from the convivial to the dire? What could institutional architecture mean in this context and how can the fraught question of mental health begin to lose its stigma? Tutor(s)