51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

(Photograph) - Blue hue: When the north wind blows, Reading 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ's new Pounds 5 million meteorology building should be shrouded in blue. But a southerly wind will leave the building with a yellow glow. The department's high-tech weather vane, which stretches from the floor to the roof of the four-storey building, includes glass tubes filled with neon.

A change in wind direction causes a different coloured tube to light up. Opened this week by Reading 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ's chancellor, Lord Carrington, the building has been paid for by the university, partly through the sale of land. The weather vane was designed by two of the university's fine arts lecturers.