PROTEUS
PROTEUS HR SYNCHRONISES
OLD WITH NEW AT ST
CATHERINE’S COLLEGE
A NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART GRADUATE CENTRE AND STUDENT
ACCOMMODATION PAVILIONS AT ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE, OXFORD, HAVE
BECOME THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS TO FEATURE EYE-CATCHING PROTEUS HR
CLADDING PANELS, MANUFACTURED BY PROTEUS FACADES.
The new Ainsworth Graduate Centre is a striking circular design
yet one that sits harmoniously in a location steeped in history. The
building resides on the site of the original Grade I listed campus
designed by renowned architect Arne Jacobsen. Proteus HR TECU bronze cladding panels were specified for the
cylindrical three-storey hub, which features a seminar room and
common room, as a reference to Jacobsen’s use of the material on
previous projects at the college, synchronising old with new.
Built between 1960 and 1964, Jacobsen designed the college’s
main campus in its entirety. Since Jacobsen’s death in 1971
additional buildings have been delivered by the Danish architect’s
assistant, Knud Holscher, and Stirling Prize-winning RIBA past
president Stephen Hodder. Architects Purcell designed the new
Graduate Centre as a continuation of the second phase of Hodder’s
development by following his typology as sensitively as possible. Proteus HR is a modular rainscreen system that offers a smooth
façade with recessed joints. The panels have a lightweight
aluminium honeycomb core structurally bonded between two thin
gauges of metal. The lightweight nature of this rainscreen system
minimises weight loadings on the underlying structure whilst
achieving strength and rigidity.
ARCHETECH - PAGE 56