St John’s College Kendrew Quadrangle, Oxford Building Project Photos, Design, Property

St John’s College Oxford

Higher Education Development England design by MJP Architects, UK

31 Jan 2011

St. John’s College Oxford

Recently completed project Kendrew Quadrangle

Photos © Peter Durant

The Kendrew Quadrangle
St. John’s College, Oxford

Design: MJP Architects

Kendrew Quadrangle for St John’s College, Oxford includes student accommodation and related facilities designed by MJP Architects.

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

The building surrounds a magnificent beech tree and is adjacent to listed buildings and listed walls within a conservation area. These features have fundamentally informed the design and construction.

The building is approximately 6,000sqm 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 6 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 bio-mass 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 pre-fabrication was considered for most parts of the elevations and the en-suite shower pods.

The design can be summarised as a series of parallel concrete fin walls which divide the student rooms, which in turn are expressed by cabinet like timber bays arranged around a central courtyard. The café is at the heart of the scheme with a double height glass pavilion.

MJP collaborated with four artists in a programme organised with Vivien Lovell of public art consultants Modus Operandi. Alex Beleschenko worked on the glazed elevations to Blackhall Road and the cafeteria facing the garden, repeating his previous collaboration on the Garden Quadrangle.

Wendy Ramshaw, who designed the gate and ironmongery for the Garden Quadrangle, designed the gates on St Giles and Blackhall Road. Ian Monroe designed the cafe screen and Langlands and Bell the myoglobin sculpture which commemorates the work of biochemist Sir John Kendrew.

St John’s College Oxford – Building Information

Consultants
Architect: MJP Architects Main Contractor : Kingerlee

Structural Engineer: Price & Myers
Services Engineer: Michael Popper Associates
QS, Planning Supervisor: Northcroft
Acoustic Engineer: Arup Acoustics
Art Consultant: Modus Operandi
Artists: Alex Beleschenko, Langlands & Bell, Ian Monroe, Wendy Ramshaw

Location: St John’s College, St. Giles, Oxford OX1 3JP

MJP Architects:
Director: Richard MacCormac
Project Architect: Tony Pryor
Chris Burrows, Robert Buss, Jennifer Chalkley, Russell Clayton, Sebastian Drewes, Jeremy Estop, Yll Krasnici, Paul Loh, Rohit Madan, Sally Quinn, David Rose, Matteo Sarno, Pam Trim, Anurag Verma, Isabella Zhang

St John’s College Oxford images / information from MJP Architects

Contact St John’s College, Oxford: 01865 277300

MJP Architects

RIBA Awards

Location: St John’s College, St. Giles, Oxford OX1 3JP, England, UK