JESUS COLLEGE TOPPING OUT
JANUARY 2017
On the 11th January Jesus College held a topping out ceremony to celebrate the laying of the final stone on the roof of its West Court development. The project provides state-of-the-art conference and lecture facilities, hotel and student accommodation, and social spaces including a new café and bar.
Professor Ian White who led the ceremony said: “We are delighted that the chance has arisen to restore the college site to its original boundaries and excited by the opportunity it brings to take the facilities we can offer to students, fellows, alumni and the wider world to a new level of excellence. Our West Court Development has an outstanding selection of spaces and accommodation, suitable for a wide range of different uses”
The below image shows the Managing Director of Cocksedge Building Contractors Steve Nugent, the Estates Burser Christopher Pratt and Professor Ian White at the topping out ceremony.
A+U FEATURE ON SOMERVILLE COLLEGE ACCOMMODATION
MAY 2014
The Japanese journal a+u has published an account of the practice’s student accommodation for Somerville College, Oxford. The theme of this month’s publication is ‘New Landscapes of Wooden Architecture’ and features an international selection of projects that explore new aspects of wood technology and its potential within cities. The article gives a description on the themes and processes behind the project, placing it within the context of the historic university city and the surrounding Radcliffe Infirmary Quarter.
It is illustrated with working details of the bespoke timber glazing for the stair tower lanterns, as well as the prefabricated timber projecting bay window units for the student bedrooms, with their integral desk and bench seat overlooking the street.
‘We chose to make the glazed elements in the stair towers and student rooms in wood because we wanted them to be like warm lanterns, internally lit in the evening, bringing light to the narrow street…Wood allowed us to make more three-dimensional details…we owe a debt to Louis Kahn’s work at Philip Exeter Academy Library.’ NM