Details
SP 50 SW KENNINGTON
1697/7/10002 Templeton College
II
College of Management Studies. Founded 1965. designed 1965-6, first phase built 1967-9, second phase 1974, library extended 1985, by Richard Burton of Ahrends, Burton and Koralek for Norman Leyland, first Director, at the behest of Clifford Barclay, the first benefactor. Floors and roofs in lightweight concrete, columns in reinforced concrete, cross walls in 6" concrete blocks, external walls in board-marked concrete, concrete block, glass and zinc cladding. The materials were a response to a brief for minimal maintenance.
Complex plan on a strict tartan grid with diagonal axes. Each square unit has a column ~t each corner, so where these meet, as in the centre of the library, there are four columns, allowing for flexibility of partitioning and services between them. The double-height library is the centre of the building, reached via long, narrow entrance with steps bisected by central rill centred originally on oak tree framed in composition (since replaced by a maple). Bridge links to front range of split-level study bedrooms, on three and four storeys shielded from traffic noise and facing inwards to central courtyard. Flat roofs. The rest of the college, built from 1978 onwards is not included in the present listing.
Front elevation a grid, with lowest floor recessed and upper floor projecting, with regular projections for staircases. Aluminium windows, those to study bedrooms double-glazed with internal louvre blinds and ventilation extract. On the south side these form three tiers of sloping windows. The four-bay library block with aluminium glazing, much of it set back behind balconies with some infilling. First-floor link via concrete bridge with central pair of piers responding to grid. Complex entrance incorporating low walls and seat round tree, which orientate one towards three broad tiers of steps between concrete block walls, and bisected by central rill served by stream originally on the
site. Central entrance door at first-floor level. This entrance way is crossed by first-floor corridor which links the study bedrooms to the rest of the building. Below this to left is a vista across the college gardens.
The interior is similarly complex. The library was made the centrepiece of the college to encourage its use. The four-unit, double-height top-lit space demonstrates the tartan grid particularly well, with landscaping by James Hope. Concrete balustrading to balcony all round the space. Though built in two phases the library interior is consistent in style. Seminar and reference areas in the surrounding rooms are designed to be flexible, with partitioning designed to be movable' -this is one building where this flexibility has been successfully utilised. The study bedrooms are a particularly inspired composition. They are reached off a spinal corridor at a mezzanine level, whence stairs lead up and down to pairs of rooms on each level. Each has a living room and study area, with fitted desks, shelves and sofa on the south side, and stairs up or down to a bedroom area. The mature students attending courses here were originally expected to stay some six months and unusually lavish provision was made for their comfort and conviviality.
The Oxford Centre for Management Studies was founded in 1965 because of the success of the Oxford University Business Summer School, which had been operating intensive one-month courses for middle management since 1953. A further impetus was given by the successful fund-raising activities of the Foundation for Management Education which, with matching industrial and Government contributions, made grants for the foundation of business schools at London and Manchester as well as at Oxford. The site at Kennington, on rising land close to the noisy Oxford by-pass, and the initial building were the gift of Clifford Barclay. The first Director, Norman Leyland, had been the bursar of Brasenose College, where Powell and Moya's addition of 1959-61 is already listed, but Philip Powell declined the commission in favour of Richard Burton, who had been the job architect for Brasenose. The result was the second English commission for the young firm of Ahrend, Burton and Koralek, who have refined the idiom established by Powell and Moya for their Oxford and Cambridge work on a more expressive grid, while acknowledging inspiration from, in particular, Frank Lloyd Wright. ABK have built seven phases for the college in the years 1967-90; the later phases are not included in this listing. The central element is remarkable for its attention to flexibility and detailing, its rich textures and finishes, and its relationship to its site.
Design COlD, no.248, August 1969, pp.24-9 Architectural Review, August 1969, pp.136-40 Architects' Journal, September 1969, pp.596-9 Werk (Basle), no.5, 1971, pp.306-8
Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, December 1971-January 1972, pp.72-4 Ahrends Burton and Koralek, Architectural Monographs, Academy Editions, 1991, pp.55-9 Information from Richard Burton
Listing NGR: SP5166803186
