Ah, the ATRiuM. A place where many people study here at the University of South Wales. But it can be a confusing building at times. So I thought I'd let you in on 10 useful facts that'll come in handy if you're going to start your course here in just two weeks time.
1. "The Street" is Inside not Outside
The foyer area by the ATRiuM's reception desk is known as "The Street". The street holds a lot of events and is where a lot of the enrolement over induction week is. So you should be glad it's indoors as knowing Wales you'd probably get wet otherwise.
2. It has Funny Named Rooms
Some of the room names aren't the most everyday room names you'll come across. Many of you might hear the name "Gus Dungeon Suite" and get the impression of some underground torturous prison when in fact it's a recording studio. There's also the "Zen Room" on the top floor which has nothing to do with Buddhism. It's instead a room for ATRiuM events and for large lectures. You can actually see the Zen Room from the outside of the building. It's the glass room that sticks out to the side (see image for details).
3. It has an Ideas Factory
In the SU along with the bar/cafe that serves food, the shop and my office, there's the Ideas Factory. It's there to promote enterprise and related activities that go with it. You can pop in there and see an Enterprise Ambassador to talk about any ideas for projects or a business you might have in mind.
4. Make sure you have some storage handy
If you save your work in the Documents area on the computers in the ATRiuM, they'll only appear on that local computer. So when you log on to a different one it won't be there anymore. There is some dedicated space to save your work on the server but it's not always compatible with all the PCs and Macs in the ATRiuM. It's usually best if you bring some storage whether that be a portable hard drive (good for video editing), a USB stick or just use your Google Drive space in your uni Gmail account (you should get 15GBs worth). Then you'll never have to worry about losing your work again.
5. CB rooms are by the spiral staircase, CA rooms are by the other staircase
When I started University, I got extremely confused about how to navigate the building. It's really not that easy at times especially when things are so spread out. Most of the teaching rooms are on the CA side so usually you can get away with just knowing your way around this half of the building. The CB side is mostly for music, sound, radio and TV studios so that's where all the fun happens!
6. The Advice Shop
The Advice Shop is an absolute gem in times of crisis. You can also use it to book out rooms, sign up to the ATRiuM Health Service and get access to the Counselling service. It's just across the way from reception so it's not hard to find.
7. When in doubt, use the phone
On the odd occasions some things just can't be resolved without some contact with those at the University's Treforest campus where a lot of the central resources of the University are based. Luckily instead of having to get the train there every time you have a problem, there's a phone set up in one of the hallways that does the job just as well. You can use this to phone the Student Money Service which always comes in handy at the start of term.
8. Get in the Library early to avoid disappointment
The ATRiuM can be a busy place especially around deadline days (near Christmas, near Easter or in May). So if you need space in the library to study it's best to get in there early. At 9am it's practically dead in there but by midday it will be rammed.
9. Remember your swipe card
Most of the doors at the ATRiuM are protected by swipe card access. This leads to some very unusual methods used to open doors or an abundance of lanyards used by the Staff. It's especially important to have your swipe card if you're looking to get out of the back of the building. It's amazing how long it takes someone who hasn't got a card to realise the door won't open without one.
10. One of the lifts speaks Welsh
There are two lifts in the ATRiuM building and one of them is bilingual. It speaks Welsh and English though apparently there's a mistake on one of the pronunciations (don't ask me what it is though. My welsh is terrible!)
So I hope those 10 things help you when you're starting out here. You'll soon get used to all the little quirks of the place and maybe even find them charming (maybe). If you've got any more questions about the ATRiuM, feel free to ask away and I shall do my best to help.
