MICA Architects delivers student accommodation at Oxford Brookes University

Image: Clive Booth Student Village at Oxford Brookes University - courtesy MICA

Future Cities Forum is delighted that Jessie Turnbull, Associate Director and an education projects leader at MICA Architects will be speaking at our 'Student Cities' discussion event this week.

MICA is well known for its thoughtful designs and master planning in the university sector covering both student accommodation as well as teaching and learning spaces, lecture theatres and conference rooms..

The firm is working with Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge to lead the master planning of “Project Agora”, which includes Caius properties east of Rose Crescent, including the recent purchase of Radcliffe Court.

MICA says:

'This project represents a significant opportunity for the College to enhance its environment with an exciting and vibrant new development near the Old Courts.

'Project Agora provides a unique opportunity to extend Gonville & Caius’ central Cambridge community with high quality new accommodation which complements and reinforces existing collegiate facilities and reinforces its retail holdings with an exciting redevelopment. The site is delightfully constrained, where rich opportunities far outweigh restrictions.

'Since the spring 2024, MICA has engaged with the College community, testing the masterplan capacity of Project Agora, which encompasses the 2023 purchase of Radcliffe Court, as well as properties on Rose Crescent and Green Street that Caius has owned for many years.

'The Team has developed options for the potential redevelopment of the site. Many Fellows, staff, students and alumni have contributed valuable thoughts on how the College might best take advantage of this exciting opportunity to create a vibrant, modern and inclusive space that enhances the student experience, supports the College’s academic and social functions.

MICA is also working with St John's College, Cambridge to redevelop Wolfson Court in Newnham Conservation Area:

'Our proposals provide new modern, sustainable, accessible accommodation that offers a range of high-quality and delightful places to live, learn and socialise.

'The proposed scheme will deliver over 350 new student rooms within a sustainable, contextually sensitive complex. Designed to foster a vibrant and supportive living environment, the development prioritises comfort, wellbeing, and community, offering high-quality spaces to live, study, and socialise.

'The design features energy-efficient buildings, a biodiverse landscape strategy and thoughtful material selection which aim to minimise embodied carbon and reduce the project’s overall environmental impact.

In addition, MICA Architects have been working with Oxford Brookes University to retrofit and provide new accommodation for students:

'The redevelopment of the Clive Booth Student Village (CBSV)' says MICA, 'is an exciting opportunity to create a unique ‘living and learning’ environment for Oxford Brookes University (OBU) students within a verdant woodland setting close to the main campus and Headington Hill Park:

'A large number of the existing buildings on the site are now 30 years old. There is a need to redevelop the accommodation so that living arrangements continue to be of a high quality for our students and we can improve and modernise the site.

'The design is the result of a 10-20 year plan for the University’s key Oxford campus at Headington to create a vibrant academic community, using the estate more efficiently and delivering better services for students, staff and the community. It features twelve sensitively designed buildings that cascade through the wooded slopes between existing and new tree canopies.

'Landscape and building are closely related with the informed by the existing trees and views to the site from both the city and adjoining vantage points. The buildings overlook external sloped gardens and frame new ‘outdoor rooms.’

'The buildings provide accommodation for over a thousand students in a variety of typologies of accommodation, including shared flats, townhouses and flexible one bedroom apartments. Each grouping features generous communal kitchen and living arrangements.

'All private and communal spaces have been designed with optimum spatial efficiency, functionality and consideration of visual or physical connection to the landscape. Generous and varied social spaces are provided centrally on the site, addressing a communal court and anew entrance pavilion serving the new and existing CBSV accommodation.

'The scheme will be an exemplary project for sustainability and low energy use, with industry-leading standards in building performance and operational energy through conformance with Passivhaus design principles. The building forms and material choices are carefully considered to optimise the embodied carbon of the construction project, with future-proof buildings that will have long-lasting adaptability for evolving student needs.

'The project was submitted for planning spring 2021, with a view to be on site later this year and the first rooms occupied by September 2023.

Jessie Turnbull, Associate Director at MICA said:

“The university was keen to construct high quality, low impact accommodation that would be a calm and secure place to live, offering students a living space where they can relax and bring their best selves to their studies and from the feedback received from students it is clear that we have delivered just that.

''The efficient en-suite bedrooms provide a wider and shallower room than frequently found in student accommodation and fitted with large windows that open for plenty of natural ventilation, they benefit from daylight that penetrates all the way to the back of the room, connecting the interior with its woodland surroundings.”