The Brutalist student residences at the University of East Anglia resemble ziggurats.
Designed by Denys Lasdun and Partners, the residences form stepped, rising blocks that became known as the “Ziggurats.” They were built as part of UEA’s early permanent campus in Norwich during the 1960s, alongside Lasdun’s teaching buildings, library and continuous “teaching wall.”
Lasdun’s design was not simply an exercise in unusual geometry. The stepped forms were intended to respond to the broad, flat landscape around the university, recalling vineyards on a slope or a rocky outcrop. Their terraces also gave student rooms access to outdoor space and created a distinctive communal setting.
The name refers to ancient Mesopotamian temple platforms, which were built as layered, receding terraces. That makes “pyramids” an understandable but less precise answer: pyramids taper toward a point, whereas ziggurats rise in stepped levels. Parts of the UEA complex are listed for their architectural significance.