Manor Road Building, Oxford, UK



Architect
Foster + Partners
Date Built
Opened officially on November 4, 2004
Location
Manor Road
Description
This building, designed by Foster and Partners, was commissioned to create a space in which several university departments could be housed under one roof.  Also known as the Social Sciences Building, it is home to the departments of: criminology, economics, politics & international relations, socio-legal studies, sociology and the social science library. 



The architect's website explains that, "... The recently completed Phase II is the planned extension of Phase I, which was finished in 1998, and it completes the overall four-storey building, tripling its original floor area. The majority of the floor-space is open-plan accommodation, with a flexible office system of self-supporting partitions, which can be easily reconfigured to allow teams to share research and work together on joint projects. Phase II augments the Centre's scholastic program by providing a number of shared communal facilitates, including a library, seminar rooms, lecture theatres, common areas, and a canteen, which overlooks the Mill Stream."



"The principal facades follow the interior grid and are clad in pre-cast concrete panels, with alternate clear and opaque infill panels and parallel opening vents that allow occupants to regulate natural ventilation. The in-situ concrete work refers to the contemporary vernacular of the Oxford campus, established by such prominent works as Sir Leslie Martin's St Cross Building (1962) and Arne Jacobson's St Catherine's College (1964). The massing of the completed building reiterates the scale of the St Cross Building, and the colouring and 'natural' finish of the concrete also compliment the natural sandstone of Oxford's historic buildings."