Education Development by Hodder + Partners in Oxford, England, UK
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St Clare's College, Oxford
Hodder + Partners
24 Jul 2009
A college which caters for 16-18 year olds, the majority of whom are international students, St. Clare's embodies a unique character and ethos, made manifest in particular through its accommodation which is disposed throughout a number of former family dwellings set within the North Oxford Conservation Area.
This evident 'domesticity' imbued our design approach to a brief which required 60 additional student beds (through a mix of single and shared bedrooms), wardens' accommodation and a new art department to be incorporated within the curtilage of a 1903 Grade II listed Arts and Crafts house by Henry T Hare, which currently serves as a student residence.
Our proposal fragments the programme into three distinct buildings which read as 'pavilions in the landscape': architectural pieces which are subservient in scale to the existing house, and enjoy an intimate relation to the garden's enclosing brick walls and mature trees. Two of the pavilions 'hinge' around the existing house and extend longitudinally into the garden, thus framing and reinforcing the symmetry of its composition. The third pavilion is sited at the bottom of the garden, its component parts articulated into two distinctive forms connected by bridges, which allow views through to the ancient orchard beyond.
Timber, used both structurally and as cladding, reinforces the relationship between pavilions and garden, lending a reassuring calm to the setting, whose 'domesticity' prevails.
Planning permission was gained earlier this year and commencement on site is due for January 2010 with completion in the following December.
Project Particulars
Client: St Clare's College
Project Value: £3.75m
St Clare's College Oxford - Design Team
Architect: Hodder + Partners
Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti Postawa de Hoog
Services Engineer: GDM Partnership
Landscape Architect: Planit
Acoustic consultant: Sandy Brown associates LLP
Fire consultant: Faber Maunsell
Quantity Surveyor: Edmond Shipway
CDM Coordinator: David M Eagle
Planning consultant: JPPC
Model Photography: Daniel Hopkinson
Model maker: Solutions
St Clare's College Oxford images / information from Hodder + Partners 240709
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St Clare's College Building : page - adrian welch / isabelle lomholt
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