Redwood Building, Cardiff

The Redwood Building, a prominent fixture in Cardiff University's Cathays Park campus in Cardiff, has a rich history tied closely to the development of the region's academic and scientific communities. Opened in 1961, it originally belonged to the Welsh College of Advanced Technology. The institution underwent several transformations, becoming the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST) in 1968, and later merging into the University of Wales College Cardiff in 1988, which was eventually renamed Cardiff University in 1999.

Architecturally, the Redwood Building is a product of its time, designed by Sir Percy Thomas & Son. It features a modernist style, evident in its rectangular three-story block structure. A significant artistic feature of the building is a large relief sculpture on the west façade by Edward Bainbridge Copnall. This sculpture depicts an elderly toga-clad man with his foot on a globe, protectively reaching over a scientist and a nurse, symbolizing the building's dedication to the sciences and healthcare.

In 1979, the building was named in honor of the Redwood family from Boverton, near Llantwit Major. This included Theophilus Redwood, a founding father of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and an influential figure in the Chemical Society and the Society of Public Analysts, along with his son Sir Boverton Redwood, a noted petroleum chemist. The naming also recognized Theophilus's medical brother Lewis Redwood and his son Thomas Redwood, further cementing the building’s associations with significant contributors to the scientific and medical fields.

The naming of the building followed a proposal by Dr. J D R Thomas to the UWIST Council, ultimately linking the facility to a lineage of notable scholars and practitioners that underscored the institution's commitment to advancing scientific and medical education in Wales.