The building is named after the scientist, engineer and inventor, Barnes Wallis, best know perhaps for the invention of the bouncing bomb that was used to destroy the dams in the Ruhr Valley during WWII.  He worked for much of his career as a designer of aircraft.

Today the Barnes Wallis Building is home to the Students' Union, a restaurant, shop, bar and print shop.  As you can see the Barnes Wallis Building is part of the same structure as the Wright Robinson Hall also designed by W. A. Gibbon of Cruickshank & Seward.