New College Oxford

A new quad for New College, Oxford, home to the first purpose-designed quadrangle built in 1403.

Construction has started on David Kohn Architects' competition-winning scheme for a new campus for New College, Oxford. Named the Gradel Quadrangles after the principal donor, the project is due to complete summer 2023.

New College was the site of the first planned quad in 1403, a model that has influenced educational institutions globally for over six hundred years. The leafy semi-suburban site offers the opportunity to reimagine the quad as a model for a learning community for the twenty-first century - departing from the quad’s closed origins and seeking a contemporary interpretation that enjoys a fluid and open relationship with the surrounding city and nature.

Alongside new student accommodation, the project also contains a student study space, music hall and new facilities for the adjacent New College School, a boys’ preparatory school. A tower and gatehouse complete the composition that Historic England has described as ‘one of the very few instances where contemporary design can be considered genuinely outstanding’.

Project
College quad, school, lecture theatre and music hall

Location
Oxford, United Kingdom

Client
New College, Oxford

Size
8000m2

Status
Live

Construction Value
£45M

  • Design Team
  • David Kohn, Philip Dring, Matt Volsen, Liz Betterton, Robin Turner, Hannah Constantine, Daniel Koo, Darren Park, Matthew Blunderfield, Luca Bosco, Jessica Lyons, Tarn Philipp, Kate Ivinson, Rachel Glenn, Natalie Klak, Daniel Norman

  • Collaborators
  • Austin Newport
  • Charcoalblue
  • David Bonnett Associates
  • Marcus Beale Architects
  • Price and Myers
  • Skelly & Couch
  • Todd Longstaffe-Gowan
View into West Quad
Model showing the new buildings creating three south-facing quads
View from Mansfield Road of new tower
Campus entrance and porter's lodge
View of New Warham House
Student bedrooms are generous and with en-suite bathrooms
Drawing of proposed diamond-shaped block stone facade

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