15,000 rooms, one answer

Finding a suitable room took anything from half an hour to weeks, and the institution’s own records disagreed about what its rooms held.

15,000+

rooms, one search

across more than 40 buildings, built from records the institution already had

BeforeAfter

Half an hour to weeks to find a suitable room

One search across 15,000+ rooms in 40+ buildings

Four sets of records that disagreed with each other

Joined into one, with every conflict listed for correction

No single source anyone trusted

One place to look, built only from existing files

Working prototype; a six-week pilot is proposed, measured on time to answer.

RFGlassworks

Teaching spacesTimetabled30+ seatsComputer labStudio

28 rooms 12 learning spaces 546 seats 1,599 m²

Room	Floor	Known as	Use	m²	Seats
GW G.03	Ground	Lecture Theatre 1	Lecture theatre	180	120
GW G.04	Ground	Seminar Room	Teaching room	55	30
GW 1.01	1	Seminar Room	Teaching room	60	40
GW 1.02	1	Seminar Room	Teaching room	61	40
GW 1.04	1	Computer Room	Computer lab	95	40
GW 2.01	2	Design Studio	Studio	120	30

1 conflict GW 1.04: layout shows 40 seats, timetable lists 36. Listed for correction.

Re-created from the working prototype, with sample data.

Who

Client: A large UK university
Scale: More than 15,000 rooms in over 40 buildings
My role: Lead Architect. Designed and built it.
Status: Working prototype; pilot proposed

What

To find a room that fitted a class, staff asked colleagues (about half an hour), searched booking systems (about 45 minutes), walked the campus (about two hours), or raised a ticket (hours to weeks). The records behind those systems did not agree with each other: a room’s furniture count and its timetabled seats could differ.

How

Built only from files the institution already had. No new data was collected.

Used what already existed. Floor plans, furniture layouts, teaching profiles and occupancy surveys, joined into one place, with nothing new to collect.
Made one search answer the real question: which room, where, how many seats, set up for what kind of teaching.
Listed every contradiction instead of hiding it. Where two records disagree, the system does not pick a winner; it lists the conflict so the owner can fix it at source.
Proposed how to prove it: a six-week pilot, measured on how long it takes to answer real questions.

Impact

One searchacross more than 15,000 rooms in over 40 buildings
Contradictions visibleconflicts between records listed for correction at source
Next: a pilotsix weeks, measured on time to answer

See the working prototype (sample data) →