Gort Scott have completed a significant and transformative development for St Hilda’s College in Oxford, comprising an Anniversary Building and Pavilion, all set in a reimagined landscape. The Anniversary Building defines the boundary of the College, strengthens the street scene on Cowley Place and creates enclosure to the tranquil gardens within the College, whilst the Pavilion nestles on the edge of the River Cherwell within this verdant riverside setting.
The form and layout of these buildings resonate with the meandering river itself and for the first time connect the north and south parts of the College estate.

St Hilda’s was founded in 1893 and the College site has evolved into an informal sequence of buildings set within beautiful gardens on the banks of the River Cherwell. Gort Scott – appointed following an international design competition in 2016 – introduced spatial coherence and a greater sense of place and brought the landscape – one of St Hilda’s prime assets – into the heart of the college.

The previous entrance sequence was underwhelming and confusing, with a distinct ‘back of house’ feel and a large swathe of tarmac that detracted from the potential of the College’s picturesque setting. A small residential building dissected the College grounds at this pivotal location within the estate.

After extensive testing, Gort Scott found that removing this structure would be fundamental to delivering the ambitions of the College in creating a connected and more inclusive design that would enhance the experience of St Hilda’s as a place to study, live and work.

In signalling the new entrance to the College on Cowley Place, the Anniversary Building incorporates a tower. Functionally, this gives access to the amenity roof terrace and two special multi-functional rooms. The design of this structure has been carefully gauged in its height and proportions, so that it is slender yet creates an orienting marker and totem for the College within Oxford, establishing St Hilda’s College within the wider network of Colleges and the University itself.

A new riverside pavilion building houses lectures and events whilst strengthening the College’s relationship to the riverine landscape. The jewel-like pavilion is in deliberate contrast to the solid boundary building that hugs the campus gardens – instead the landscape appears to flow around and through the lightweight glazed structure.

The form and fabric of the building have been designed to inherently help to control internal climate, to provide a comfortable place in which to live and work, by reducing the demand for heating or cooling benefitting from concrete high thermal mass and natural ventilation.

The high hot water usage for student accommodation means that hot water generation represents a significant demand for energy throughout the year. This is optimal for the use of Combined Heat and Power to provide heating for hot water as well as a source of electricity that reduces carbon emissions.