Porters' Lodge
"....modernity, elegance and use of light of the building. The water feature was also commented on positively as was the location which provided for obvious onward travel to the rest of the College."
Founded in London in 1768, Homerton moved to Cambridge just before 1900. Once an academy for the Nonconformist Church, then a renowned teacher-training college, since 2010 Homerton has been a full College of the University of Cambridge, offering all the academic subjects. Homerton is one of the most attractive Colleges in Cambridge, with a mixture of old and new buildings set in spacious wooded grounds away from the city centre. It is also the largest College in terms of student numbers, with a thriving and diverse community
Homerton College occupies one of the largest and most verdant college estates in Cambridge. Covering nearly ten hectares, it is located to the south of the city centre and it is less than a kilometre from Cambridge Central Railway Station. The College Estate is bounded by Hills Road to the east and the Cambridge-London railway line to the west. To the north the Estate is split by Harrison Drive, with a smaller portion of the site, which is leased to the University’s Faculty of Education, to the north.
Entrance & Porters' Lodge
The Lodge is the chief place for ingress and egress and needs to take account of both an increasing variety of visitors as well as recent and anticipated further growth in the size of the College. It requires, first and foremost, a high degree of functionality; to be able to accommodate the throughput of students, academics and staff for whom the College is a home or workplace, first-time visitors with a question for the Porters about directions, those who wait there to use it as a meeting and greeting point, luggage-laden students leaving or arriving - and it needs to be able also to act as a filter for undesirables, by night as well as by day. It should also offer a safe and comfortable working environment for porters and receptionists who are the College’s front-line workers
Existing library
Homerton has a distinguished collection of more specialist holdings (the Special Collections) which signal its ambitions as a centre for research. Currently, a significant number of rare and interesting books are stored out of sight due to space constraints of the existing Library. The College also has a nationally significant collection of Children’s Literature which would validate the provision of its own designated space. The aim in this brief is to provide additional storage space (in order to accommodate the Special Collections, increasing bequests and new purchases) as well as providing a multiuse group of functional spaces associated with the Special Collections. These would provide research desks, space for talks or book groups.
The brief is to design a new frontage for Homerton which will have a significant impact in the street scene. The Principal College Entrance Building will not only be a functional way in and way out, but will also be a statement to visitors, passers-by and to the city of Cambridge. That statement is about a sense of arrival. The building will be both assertive and welcoming. It will also say something about how far Homerton College has come and how important its identity is within the Cambridge of today – and tomorrow.
Repairing a landscape is central to our proposal and our design aspires to create outdoor spaces that invite and make legible the Homerton Campus, whilst establishing of a hierarchy of distinctive spaces. The lodge arch providing a marker of the College front door leading to the lodge.
Landscape Approach
We worked closely with Farrer Huxley Landscape Architects to consider a landscape-led approach to the project. A landscape to provide a positive new space that suggests the quality of the landscape beyond the Mary Allan Building. A space for people and the community of the college that they will want to spend time in. Our proposal seeks to work with these desire lines to deliver visitors more directly into the middle of the college grounds. We believe this will greatly improve the visibility and legibility of the Principal Entrance, improve movement around the college grounds and put the porter’s desk centrally within the site rather than at its edge. Our proposal suggests that the new entrance will provide a clear focus point for visitors both on foot, cycle or arriving by car, and its form has been generated to act as a beacon in this way
The architecture of the Principal Entrance needs to respond to its immediate setting and also provide a refined building of high quality. This requires a close consideration of materials and their longevity, but also the way they are put together and used as part of the expression of the building. To assist the sustainability aspirations of the project, our proposal seeks to provide a timber-based structure with a low embodied carbon, meaning a low-impact build. This will be expressed in the internal finishes of the building and provide a warm and attractive interior. Combined with excellent control of daylight and views into newly landscaped spaces, the architecture of our proposal has the well-being of its occupants at heart, whilst providing an uplifting experience for visitors as they approach the college
Beacon
The Principal Entrance fronts onto Hills Road and is one of the most publicly visible part of the college. It previously supported both cycle and vehicle parking, and lacked a distinct a sense of place despite the strong expression of enclosure provided by the Mary Allan Building. We believe this space could have a much better focus for staff, students and the public, that suggests the quality of the landscape beyond the Mary Allan Building.
A space for people and the community of the college that they will want to spend time in.
A new legible front entrance is marked by a distinctive arch and reflection pool guiding you into the campus. Contrasting the strong directional forms of the walkway and entrance arch we have created a new quad of wild, messy and soft meadow planting. The natural wilderness wraps around the quad creating a frame linking the wider setting of the college.
The new Principal Entrance is both the face and the gateway of the college. One of its primary roles must be to embody and project the values of the college, itself becoming an impactive part of the its identity. The relocation of the porter's lodge provides and legible access and orientation to the grounds whilst allowing for the expansion of the existing library. Our proposal creates a series of spaces that enhance the operations of the college and connect to its landscape.
Above all, it provides a strong identity and message for a college looking to the future.
Although this proposal has a striking form, its major objective is to provide a place where the college community meets the public in a way that is legible and inviting and which speaks of the civic responsibilities of the college.
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Client
Homerton College, University of Cambridge -
Location
Cambridge -
Budget
N/A -
Design Team
Michael Hadi Associates
Max Fordham
Farrer Huxley -
Team
Robin Dryer, Mark Clarke, Delphine Dryer, Elliot Shaw, James Howells, Ana Pratas, Ting Khu -
Images
CDC Studio, Farrer Huxley