Location: Oxford, United Kingdom.

Architect: Alison Brooks.

The Exeter College Cohen Quadrangle in Oxford is a modern interpretation of the traditional collegiate quadrangle, combining student living spaces with teaching facilities. The 6000 m² building includes accommodation for 90 students, an auditorium, seminar rooms, archive, café, roof terraces, offices, fellows’ accommodation and Oxford University’s first dedicated social learning space. The design concept is a ‘scholarly home’ characterised by a stainless steel shingle roof that marks the building on Oxford’s skyline. The building is organised as an S-shaped plan that weaves between two new courtyards, offering a range of perspectives on adjacent landscapes and streetscapes. The historic Grade II Listed English Baroque 1913 Ruskin College façade has been retained for its significant historic value. The Cohen Quad design concept emphasises transparency and light, with double storey glazed walls creating a visual connection to the landscaped courts. The Fitzhugh Auditorium is a new performance space for the College, with a curved, patterned roof that brings the quad together with a shell roof form arching upwards from the garden wall. The student rooms are arranged along naturally-lit corridors, with integrated desks, window seats, storage, and bathroom pods. Fellows studies occupy the ‘loft’ spaces under the curved roof and are gathered around the Senior Common Room. The roof’s unique geometry and material is a unifying device between the old and new, a mediator between institutional and residential, and the all-embracing enclosure for this scholarly community. The building has achieved a 20% improvement on Building Regulations standard for energy consumption, using thermal mass, solar thermal panels and air-source heat pumps.

Photo credit: Hufton+Crow, Paul Riddle, Fran Monks and Alison Brooks Architects.