Computing Facilities in the Design Studio Areas
Updated March 2024
The computing areas are within the Stockwell Street Design Studios, they are divided into two areas:
- 1015 – 20 PCs, closely clustered and in a semi enclosed area so is often booked for classes
- 1016 – 60 PCs open access use.
There are mixed specifications / age of PC here but they are all workstation class with minimum 32GB Ram and Nvidia RTX graphics.
Please note, to allow everyone access and to prevent “machine squatting” some banks of machines will auto restart at 8.30AM each morning and desks will be cleared of all items.
PC Workstations
- Stone Magma Workstation M2 : i9 / 64gb / Nvidia RTX 4080
- HP Z6 / Z2 Workstations: Intel Xeon W-2102 / 64GB / 8Gb Nvidia RTX 3070
- Dell Precision T7810 : Intel Xeon E3-1241 / 32Gb / 4Gb Nvidia Quadro K2200
The intention is for this space to be a specialised studio area for students from the School of Design; they are login restricted to just students of this School. There are also a number of large format scanners and plotters with a variety of paper types as well as A3/A4 colour laser printers.
- Mail enquiries to Faculty Design Support Team
Please be aware the 1015 spaces is primarily intended for teaching space so is often booked for classes.
During this time the machines are unavailable – please do NOT enter during a class even if you see a free PC there.
Opening Times
Term times opening times are Mon-Fri 8.00 – midnight / Weekends 9AM – 9PM
Notes on Feeding your Own Paper
There is a dedicated plotter available for feeding your own paper into but please remember that plotting on cut sheets is a far slower process than using the roll plotters – these plotters do get busy.
Also if you are using your own paper there is no guarantee about the quality of plots – non plotter paper may bleed ink or show the paper’s colour through the ink; if the paper is coated then the ink is unlikely to adhere to it at all. Similarly too thick or too thin paper can jam in the plotter – in short, sheet feed plotting is at your own risk (you will have a much less stressful time if you just use the roll plotters). We do not offer refunds on the sheet feed plotter; use is at your own risk.
More details about the printers / plotters here
Software
The studio provides specialist software which is unavailable or unsupported elsewhere in the University. This includes Geographic Information System (GIS) software, advanced modelling and animation software, video editing and DTP – on both Mac and PC platforms.
Main software installed is:
PC
- Windows 10 /22H2 – 64 Bit
- Adobe Master Collection CC 2025
- Autodesk 2024: Autocad / Revit / 3DS Max / Maya
- Rhino8 / 64 Bit + V-Ray + Enscape
- Sketchup Pro 2025
- V-Ray 6 for 3DS / Rhino / Sketchup
- Blender 4.1
- ArcGIS 10.4.1
- MS Office 365
- ZBrush 2025
Studio Plotters / Printers
- 2 x Oce Colourwave 700: Large format : Heavyweight Standard / Inkjet Tracing Paper / Non-woven Wallpaper / Fine Linen / Eco 75GSM
- Canon TX3000: Sheet Feed Plotter (use at own risk)
- Canon TX3000: High Gloss Plotter (use on request)
- 2 x Canon MFD A3 / A4 Colour / Mono Printer / Copier