The brief
Providing a vibrant and secure student community in harmony with nature, Oxford Brookes University has replaced outdated student accommodation at its Headington Campus with modern, environmentally friendly shared apartments.
Appointing MICA Architects alongside a multi-disciplinary team including landscape architects, ecology and arboricultural consultants as well as transport and heritage consultants, the university has designed a complex of twelve accommodation blocks that sit sensitively within the established wooded landscape and conform to Passivhaus and BREEAM design principles.
Named after Professor Sir Clive Booth, a former Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, the new student village offers convenient contemporary accommodation with light filled study bedrooms and spacious communal kitchen and living spaces, set within landscaped grounds that brings people close to nature.
Client: Oxford Brookes University
Sector: Student living
Architect: MICA Architects
Building contractor: Morgan Sindall Construction
Flooring contractor: Westcotes Flooring Company Limited
Flooring: Pale Limed Oak and Rose Washed Oak, Knight Tile rigid core
Area: 6,054m2
The concept
The site is positioned adjacent to Headington Hill Hall, a listed historic manor house, within the Hall’s arboretum so it was important that the new accommodation blocks would integrate into this landscape to create a woodland village. To enhance this feeling of connection with nature, each building has been named in honour of native trees.
Jessie Turnbull, senior associate at MICA Architects, 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.
“The self-contained apartments include between six and 11 study bedrooms, each with a compact ensuite, and a generously sized shared kitchen dining living room. Wider and shallower than frequently found in student accommodation and fitted with large windows that open for plenty of natural ventilation, the study bedrooms benefit from daylight that penetrates all the way to the back of the room, connecting the interior with its woodland surroundings.”
The look
The interior boasts a contemporary biophilic style that has been developed around the project’s key priorities of sustainability, practicality and wellbeing. Alongside a natural colour palette and furniture made from recycled materials, oak design flooring from the Knight Tile range creates a warm and welcoming environment.
Jessie added: “The university was very keen to use LVT throughout the accommodation as this would be easier to clean and would provide a modern vibe that appeals to both domestic and international students. Carpeted bedrooms are very much a British choice while hard floors are more usual in homes across Europe, Asia and the United States.
“Following consultation with a group of student ambassadors, we opted for the warm natural tones of Pale Limed Oak in the bedrooms and Rose Washed Oak with its slightly greyer hues in each living space to complement the duck egg blue kitchen units. The concrete frame construction called for a rigid core format, with its enhanced acoustic benefits and easier installation.
“Sustainability was a key consideration for this project so we carefully evaluated the holistic life cycle of the build. Morgan Sindall Construction’s CarboniCa tool was used to collate embodied carbon and life cycle costing from each product Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). We were reassured that Karndean flooring is extremely durable and so has a long life, reducing its overall life cycle carbon cost. With third party verification we could be confident that the EPD for the Knight Tile rigid core flooring was complete and accurate.
“The feedback we've had from students has been absolutely fantastic and, although it’s early days, the flooring is holding up really well.”
