Oxford University Building Proposal

Oxford says yes to new University building 12 Sep 2008 Wilkinson Eyre Architects Oxford City Council's Strategic Development Control Committee has granted planning permission for the University of Oxford to build a new Department of Earth Sciences. The new building, designed by award-winning architects, Wilkinson Eyre will house the Earth Sciences Department of nearly 400 students and staff. It will include up-to-date teaching rooms, laboratories and administration offices. The 5000 square metre building will be constructed on the site of the old Central Chemistry building on South Parks Road. The Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford is one of the best in the world. It conducts research and teaching on a wide range of topics from the workings of the climate system to the causes of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The building has been designed to meet not only the academic requirements of the department but also as a physical expression of the subjects taught and researched. The long east elevation, the 'narrative wall' leads into the heart of the building and is clad in linear folded planes of stone: Purbeck Cap limestone with inclusions of darker Purbeck Grub and transluscent stone-laminated glass. Taken as a whole, with shifting striations through it, this facade can be read as being reminiscent of certain geological features. The building is arranged as a simple diagram with a wing of highly serviced laboratories and a wing of academic offices separated by a stair - the hinge - and an atrium. A common room and terrace on the roof provides a key point for quieter private academic interaction amongst the earth scientists. The ground floor contains the more public activities: foyer, knowledge research centre, seminar spaces and undergraduate teaching labs. Stafford Critchlow, Director of Wilkinson Eyre Architects comments: "It is a rare opportunity to express the diagram of a building's uses so clearly in its architecture and to be able to imbue the facades with a 'narrative' inspired by its users - this building, with a big sustainable agenda, will raise the profile of earth sciences research and its importance in Oxford and the wider world." Professor Philip England, Head of the Department of Earth Sciences, said: I am delighted that our new building has received planning permission. We have been sorely in need of modern laboratory and teaching space, and this building will give us a tremendous facility in which to carry out our work. The building is due to start on site this month, construction will begin late Autumn, with completion expected by Summer 2010. University of Oxford Department of Earth Sciences images / text from Caro 120908 Oxford Architecture University Buildings University of Oxford Department of Earth Sciences - Building Information Architect: Wilkinson Eyre Architects Client: University of Oxford Structural Engineer: Pell Frischmann Consulting engineers: Hoare Lea Appointed: Mar 2006 Area: 5,000 sqm Value: £29m Wilkinson Eyre Architects - another Oxford project: Maggies Oxford 2009- Maggies Oxford