MUSIC SCHOOL
Client: St Peter’s College
Location: St Peter’s College, Oxford
The project comprises the refurbishment and extension of an existing Edwardian building into a music performance and teaching venue. The interior is completely reconfigured and new practice rooms beneath a glazed canopy are suspended in the passageway to the adjoining building. A new extension to the rear of the existing building pushes out as a pod to accommodate lift and toilet facilities.
The architectural approach has been to treat all new elements as either insertions within the existing structure or pods emerging from and attached to the structure. The glazed canopy with practice room pods beneath provides a dynamic covered external space enlivening what is currently a dark and unloved gap between buildings. The canopy itself with its expressionist structure signals the presence of the building within the College. This is necessary as the building is located somewhat obscurely for public access at the corner of the furthest distant quad within College.