Blue hue

(Photograph) - Blue hue: When the north wind blows, Reading University'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 University'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.