The Wave, The University of Sheffield

New building of Uni of Sheffield. It has a cool interior especially the big long stairs. Many large spaces. Nice cafe. It also has a prayer room to pray.

I went into this building not expecting much, but as I stepped in I was pleasantly surprised to be met by a surging sense of ocean ambience. The open space provides a welcome twist on the concept of waves, while it’s clean lines are reminiscent of less successful University of Sheffield buildings such as The Diamond, the drifting tidal undercurrent throughout really sets this building apart. The swelling wooden detail catches your attention, bringing a balance of warmer notes to the otherwise cool space, and accords well with the undulating ripples of light and glass. The sense of crashing waves can be a little overpowering earlier in the day, but later dies down to a gentle in-tide on a light summer evening.

The building looks really nice but there’s too much open space especially considering that some of the departments don’t have enough seating for their PGRs and staff. The food in the cafe area is good, there’s quite a few vegetarian options.

Would've been cooler if it had like a waterfall going, to really emphasise the name 😢 but not sure if they were going for the scientific wave or the natural one 😶

Love this cafe, the staff are lovely- big ups to Sue xo