St Johns College, Oxford: Decarbonising a Historic Estate

Founded in 1555. St John's is one of Oxford's oldest and most influential colleges. It was said that you could walk from Oxford to London on land owned by St John's. Wright & Wright worked with college president Maggie Snowling on her programme to broaden inclusion and physically rebalance the campus by attracting students back to its heart. For more than 40 years, St John's had been looking for a way to extend its historic Laudian Library in Canterbury Quadrangle, a Grade I listed Baroque era ensemble.

Completed in 2019, the new study centre and archive finally resolved this conundrum. Housing the college's world-class special collections and containing 120 reader desks, the new building creates an active connection between Canterbury Quad and the more modern elements of the college, strengthening links between different eras. The site in the president's garden was chosen as it had the least impact on existing surroundings and landscape, while enabling library resources to be consolidated in a single location in strictly environmentally controlled conditions.

Conceived as series of overlapping planes of masonry and glass, the study centre resembles a stone casket, with a complex section and thick-skinned walls that sculpt and moderate light, giving each space a distinct character. The building incorporates a number of environmental control measures designed to reduce its energy consumption and fully offset the building's carbon emissions to achieve a carbon neutral status. Heating is provided by water from 40 ground source boreholes excavated under the adjacent Great Lawn, and photovoltaic panels - which are either hidden discreetly behind parapets or integrated in the central monopitched roof- contribute to electricity generation.

Basement archive stores are regulated by simple conservation heating and cooling. and fire protected by a gas suppression system. Combined with carefully considered detailing and finishing, this strategy is calculated to reduce running and maintenance costs over the long term.

Other aspects of the St John's masterplan focused on refurbishing the existing Old and Laudian libraries, by reinstating key historic and architectural elements, rationalising circulation, enhancing security, improving access and upgrading reader facilities. The final phase involved the replacement of the Bletchingdon marble columns in the 17th
century Canterbury Quad. Once the new stone had been selected - Swaledale Fossil, a carboniferous limestone - the design process involved extensive laboratory testing for resistance to compression, weathering and frost, to achieve the reassurances that would satisfy the client, planners and Historic England.