Student Accommodation in Oxford
On a former hospital site north of Somerville College campus, new institute buildings are being developed for the university. The college was formerly oriented towards the south, but with the demolition of the clinic structures, an almost completely closed face was revealed. To realign Somerville to the future university centre by means of these new student dwellings, a 175-metre-long and 6-metre-wide strip of land was acquired along the northern boundary – just deep enough to accommodate a single row of rooms with an access corridor. Between the two sections of the development, the architects have created a new line of approach to the college from the north, thereby forming a framed view of Radcliffe Observatory from the quadrangle. In a later phase of the scheme, the housing will be linked with the existing buildings to the south.
