Exeter College Cohen Quad – Oxford, United Kingdom
Title
Exeter College Cohen Quad – Oxford, United Kingdom
Designed by
Alison Brooks Architects
Image Credit
© Hufton + Crow | Paul Riddle
https://www.instagram.com/alisonbrooksarchitects/?hl=en
Website Source
Project Description
Project description provided by This project is a 21st century reinvention of the ‘collegiate quadrangle’, the basis of Oxford’s academic and urban fabric. The Oxford quadrangle is an 800 year old pedagogical model that combines student rooms with teaching spaces, organised around landscaped courtyards. Every Oxford College is a variation of this typology. Alison Brooks Architects’ new 6,000 m² Cohen Quad will expand Exeter College’s 700 year old campus in the heart of Oxford, with undergraduate and graduate living accommodation for 90 students, auditorium, seminar rooms, social learning spaces (The Learning Commons), special collections archive, café, roof terrace, offices and fellows’ accommodation.
The Cohen Quad is designed as a unique S-shaped plan that weaves between two new courtyards. Internal and external spaces are connected by a three dimensional ambulatory. This is a narrative route that connects the college’s public and courtyard spaces with a series of cloisters, amphitheatre staircases, landings and garden walks – places for gathering and scholarly exchange. A multi-level commons space at the centre of the plan is the Cohen Quad’s social heart, opening onto both courtyards. Public spaces are represented by a two-storey stone clad base, while student rooms and Fellows’ studies are enclosed by a sinuous patterned stainless steel surface that folds across the walls and roofs. The over-riding concept of a ‘scholarly home’ is characterised by this all-embracing curved roof, marking a new addition to Oxford’s skyline, while providing loft study and living spaces within.
