ARISTOTLE HOUSE
Client: Wadham College
Location: Wadham College, Oxford
Aristotle House is a mixed use development for Wadham College, on the site of the former Hayfields Wharf in North Oxford. The development comprises 4 town houses, 6 thousand square feet of Commercial space and two residential apartments.
The site lies within the North Oxford Conservation Area and is politically highly sensitive. The brief for the project required that an efficient use be made of the site to deliver maximum return for the College, whilst ensuring that the resultant designs represented a high quality piece of contextual architecture acceptable to both local residents and the conservation area.
The resultant scheme divides the site into two. The northern section has been designated for town housing continuing the grain of North oxford. The southern end of the site is occupied by the commercial element, which references its previous wharf usage. It is split into two discrete volumes, reflective of the scale and grain of the area utilising a canal side warehouse aesthetic. The material palette is appropriate to the conservation area. The designs themselves, whilst reflecting local archetypes in massing and proportion, are contemporary in expression maximising natural daylight and the views back towards the canal.
Careful landscaping contributes positively both to the public realm and the canal-side corridor.