NAZRIN SHAH BUILDING – STEELWORK
JULY 2015
Just over two years since our first tentative steps towards imagining what sort of space a new auditorium for Worcester College might possibly be like, we find ourselves enclosed within a spidery sketch, looking up to the trees through a skeletal enclosure of steel. We watched in excitement as our drawings were scribed across the site, first in neon spray paint and little red sticks, later excavated into deep ravines. We pick our way across the lines that had become so familiar on paper and are now concrete obstacles in a muddy field. The reality of this transition only became real as we stood looking across at the steel columns in this picture. They map out the positions of the stone fins that radiate around the curved facade of the new auditorium, with the sloping beams above us silhouetted against the bright July sky marking the future locations of the sculpted folds to the soffit.
ST. CROSS COLLEGE COMPETITION WIN
NOVEMBER 2012
Niall McLaughlin Architects will continue their work for Oxford University, having been announced as the winners of the competition to complete the West Quadrangle of St. Cross College.
The brief asked for a scheme that would provide ‘In whole and in detail…continuing satisfaction and unexpected moments of delight.’ Sir Mark Jones, master of St. Cross College stated, ‘It was felt that Niall McLaughlin was the designer who would best meet the needs of the College.’
In an interview for Building Design, Niall McLaughlin commented, ‘St Cross is an Oxford college with a special atmosphere based on a community that is very democratic and informal. It enjoys a lovely situation, tucked behind a busy thoroughfare on a site of significance for the history of the city. The competition process was collaborative and inclusive so we already share a good mutual understanding with the client. We are delighted to have won, particularly given the strength of the shortlisted practices.’