The Sidgwick Avenue frontage of the Dorothy Garrod Building, Newnham College, Cambridge, showing the Porters’ Lodge and the sculpture by Cathy de Monchaux
The Porters’ Lodge, Newnham College
The Iris Café, Newnham College
Light-sculpture in the Iris Café, Newnham College
An office in the Dorothy Garrod Building, Newnham College
A student bedroom in the Dorothy Garrod Building, Newnham College
A student kitchen in the Dorothy Garrod Building, Newnham College
An aerial view of the Dorothy Garrod Building beside the historic Basil Champneys buildings at Newnham College, Cambridge
The Dorothy Garrod Building adds another stunning link into the chain of buildings that encircle the Newnham College Gardens.
The new building was designed to connect to our existing buildings, while at the same time making a strong statement about the College’s future vision. Many of the subtle details reflects back an aspect of the Champneys Buildings around it, and the huge windows offer views out onto the gardens.
The external facades are made up of handmade red brick, carefully blended to match the Champneys Buildings elsewhere. The windows and doors are bronze anodised, chosen to reference the iconic Clough Gates. To break up the facades, ‘curtains’ of decorative dogtooth brickwork stripe down the walls, picking up on the strong verticality of the Pfeiffer Arch and the Fawcett Building.
On the upper floors, the en-suite bedrooms are deliberately high and airy (2.9m high), with huge windows, built in bookcases, and oak floors. Outer-facing bedrooms have window seats, and garden-facing windows have double doors and a Juliet balcony. The social kitchen / dining spaces are a wonderful place for friends to get together, and will encourage new friends to meet.
In a visit from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), architects commented “For me, the remarkable discovery as we moved outside was the brickwork. The new accommodation connects to the Fawcett building (1938) and there is harmony between the two in the rhythm of the windows and expressive use of brick in the facades. … It is a bold thing to do in the heart of a college site, but it has been done with confidence.”
The College worked with Walters & Cohen Architects, BHSLA Landscape Architects, Savills and other specialist consultants to produce a design which complements the existing elegant and inspiring environment with a high quality, flexible and energy efficient new building, and enhances our gardens.