Radley College is situated between Kennington and Abingdon on the eastern edge of Radley Village and commands views across South-West Oxfordshire. Established in 1847 by the Rev. William Sewell, it now accommodates up to 684 boys.

This project represents a significant milestone for Radley College as it addresses a number of important operational issues that have existed for some time. In addition, the College identified a number of space needs for both teaching and social accommodation for the school. Ten new teaching classrooms were required to enable the subjects of history and politics to be taught ‘under one roof’.

Radley College has a prolific art department whose expansion needed to include a new gallery (The Sewell Gallery) and additional space was required to provide secure display and storage of the boys’ artwork during and after assessment. The secure gallery also enables high profile and important artists to show their work.

A new social space was required as a much-needed place for the boys to relax and meet outside of the confines of their boarding houses or ‘socials’, where space of this nature is limited. The new social space will also be a place where College staff can receive parents of the boys and where parents can meet with their children in both open and private environments.

As well as addressing a number of important issues for the College, the project also represented a unique opportunity to improve the environment of the Clocktower Square and realise its potential as a civic space in the heart of the College campus. Given the importance of the Clocktower Square, the development deliberately placed the civic activities to engage with this space. The elevation of this part of the new proposal is colonnaded in brickwork and is proportioned so as to moderate the scale difference between the monumental Rackets Court (a listed building) and the more domestically scaled Old Fives Court building.

The building is constructed from heavyweight materials to provide a high thermal mass in order to prevent rapid fluctuations in internal temperature caused by changing external climatic conditions. This enables the building to retain heat during the winter months and benefit from free cooling in the summer months in conjunction with the natural ventilation system proposed. The roofs of the classrooms are deliberately pitched so as not to conflict with the roof of the Rackets Court, and as a result they offer a sculpted space internally to the upper classrooms. They are capped with light and ventilation stacks, which will drive the passive ventilation systems to the two-storey building.

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Radley College Clocktower Square

Radley, United Kingdom

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Radley College Clocktower Square

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