Many Sussex University students from the Sixties would have driven a Mini, squeezed into Mary Quant's miniskirts or owned The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album.

These pop culture must-haves of the era will be showcased in a new BBC2 series on design classics which have lasted over the years.

But those students might be surprised to see what else will be hailed as Sixties icons - the university buildings they occupied every day.

Sir Basil Spence's daring, modernist creations at Sussex University's campus in Falmer will be celebrated in Designing The Decades on BBC2 this Saturday.

According to experts consulted for the show, the university holds a place in history alongside the likes of the Post Office Tower, Tupperware, Habitat and stacking chairs.

All are cited as examples of innovation in architecture, fashion and design which shaped the decade.

The programme opens with old film footage of a snow-covered Falmer campus, with narrator Penelope Keith describing the architecture as "Modernism at its best - brutal and beautiful."

But contemporary opinion was not always so flattering, with Brighton planners resisting some of Sir Basil's ambitious plans for his redbrick and barrel vaulting buildings.

In 1965, Councillor Ivor Dudeney, chairman of Brighton's planning committee, described the Meeting House design as "a flattened oast house more suitable for a Wembley exhibition."

The remark caused a storm and deeply offended Sir Basil, a world-renowned architect responsible for the new Coventry Cathedral.

He also had to overcome objections to his plans for a moat at Falmer House, joking that reflections from the water would provide "two buildings for the price of one."

The proposals were eventually given the go-ahead and all Sir Basil's Sussex University creations are now Grade I listed buildings.

He did not want any building rearing up to the skyline and designed a university no more than three storeys high to blend in with the trees and countryside.

Sir Basil once said he wanted to give the impression of an English country house, which passing motorists could glimpse through the trees.

Brighton and Hove City Council leader Ken Bodfish saw a parallel between Sir Basil's visionary proposals and recent controversial plans for the city.

Three architects' schemes for the rundown King Alfred site in Hove were unveiled last week, prompting arguments over whether they were too bold and unusual.

Coun Bodfish said: "Sussex University is a beautiful example of a high-design scheme and I believe the King Alfred site can be too.

"There will always be people objecting to visionary plans, as there were with the university."

"But the city has the capacity to be at the forefront of good urban design."

A BBC camera crew spent a day on campus last year filming the library, Falmer House, Meeting House, the Gardners Arts Centre and the arts buildings.

They also interviewed art historian Professor Nigel Llewellyn and the Students' Union president, Ros Hall, who speaks about the stories and myths associated with the buildings, which were said to deliberately resemble different objects.

The two tall structures of Arts A resemble a tuning fork or antenna, the library suggests an open book resting on its spine and many believe Falmer House looks like a camera.

In the BBC programme, architectural historian Brian Edwards calls the university "loud architecture", with a heavier debt to the rockers of the time than to the mods.

Jonathan Glancey, architecture and design editor of The Guardian, praises the "delightful sense of playfulness" of the campus.

The programme, the first in a four-part series tracing the Sixties to the Nineties, is broadcast on BBC2 this Saturday at 8pm.