Kelvin Building

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The Kelvin Building, originally known as the Natural Philosophy Building, was designed by James Miller and completed in 1906.

By the mid-1940s the Principal, Hector Hetherington, was determined to establish the Natural Philosophy Department as one of the pre-eminent Physics departments in the UK. As part of the project, Basil Spence & Partners designed an extension to the original 1907 building. The first phase, completed in 1954, consisted of the new building with a lecture room and purpose-built accommodation for the synchrotron, an important piece of equipment used in the study of particle physics. The second phase provided teaching laboratories and another lecture theatre, and was completed in 1959.

Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson were responsible for a third phase in 1966. The new extension included a library and a museum on the top floor, the latter displaying historical equipment from Lord Kelvin's old laboratory.