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Quadrangle, Oxford

MJP Architects succeed with a hospitable setting for academic life.

OXFORD (UK) - Enclosing a majestic beech tree, the building at Kendrew Quadrangle, St John's College, incorporates student accommodation plus related academic and communal facilities, and was designed with the great old tree as its focus. A central programme requirement, that the tree be at least in part visible from the adjacent road, prompted MJP Architects to devise a gap through the building, otherwise sheltered on the street side by its neighbours. Passing through to the quadrangle interior, entering the tucked away space, the striking design makes its impact. It in many ways reminds of the warmth and layered openness of California modernism.

Like stacked wooden boxes, the protrusions comprising the student rooms are partitioned by concrete fins disposed around a central courtyard. The whole arrangement is accented with ground-level breezeways and pleasing brise soleil elements, including decorated glass that serves to shade large glazed interior spaces such as the café area. The wood comes to the fore in the autumn season, complimented by changing leaves, an expression of intimacy and balance that makes the quad a model setting for both reflection and comfortable living. (Dutton R. Hauhart)

St John's College has a reputation for commissioning fine modern buildings, and has won several prizes for the two projects previously completed by MJP Architects, the Garden Quadrangle and the Senior Common Room. The new scheme is a prestigious new element within the College's historic grounds and an important addition to the cityscape.

The building surrounds a beech tree of historic significance and is adjacent to listed buildings and listed walls in a conservation area. These elements have informed the design and construction significantly. The building is approximately 6000 m² in area over four floors, plus a large basement. It is arranged in a quadrangle open to the south. In addition to the main quadrangle there are a number of gardens and small courtyards formed in the spaces between the new building and its surroundings.

The accommodation falls into three categories. There are approximately 80 student rooms with en-suite shower pods and six small flats for college fellows. Academic facilities consist of a law library, an archive and a number of teaching rooms. Communal facilities include a café, an events room and a gym, as well as an arts area. Generally, residential parts are on the upper floors, and communal and teaching spaces on the ground floor.

In the scheme there is a strong sustainability strategy. This includes several active measures such as a biomass boiler, ground source heat pumps, PV cells and solar panels, as well as passive measures such as air-tightness and insulation exceeding the latest part L regulations. The building envelope is complicated and airtight, so prefabrication was considered for most parts of the elevations and the en-suite shower pods.

The design can be summarized as a series of parallel concrete fin walls that divide the student rooms, which in turn are expressed by wooden boxes arranged around a central courtyard. The café is at the heart of the scheme with a double-height glass box.

MJP collaborated with four artists, who produced artworks for different areas of the scheme. Alex Beleschenko produced the café and Blackhall Road glass artworks. His previous collaborations with MJP include Southwark Station, Phoenix Initiative and the Garden Quadrangle, also for St John's College. Other artists include Wendy Ramshaw (gates), Ian Monroe (café screen) and Langlands and Bell (myoglobin sculpture).