Student Residence Buildings, Somerville College, Oxford, UK

Architect	Niall McLaughlin Architects
Date Built	September 2011
Location	Somerville College
Description
Niall McLaughlin Architects won an invited competition to design new student accommodation and a new teaching and library building on the boundary between the existing college buildings and the former Radcliffe Infirmary development site. They explain that, "... The project draws themes from the surrounding buildings to weave it into the grain of the city. The oak-clad bay windows, pushed out from the facade, are a restatement of themes of Philip Dowson’s Wolfson Building for Somerville College. The brick is a reference to the adjacent Keble College and the neighbouring residential area of Jericho with its Victorian brick workers’ cottages. The project links the two areas, creating a seam of brick running through this northern section of the city. ... The project utilises renewable technologies including a ground source heat pump, solar thermal array and photovoltaics, to achieve BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating." The building received a RIBA Regional Architecture Award in 2012 and The David Steel Sustainable Buildings Award also in 2012.