Reflecting on Wadham: AL_A’s access and undergraduate centres for Wadham College, Oxford
Amanda Levete Architects’ combined Access Centre and Undergraduate Centre updates a historic quadrangle on the campus with an exceptionally considered façade treatment, writes Fran Williams. Photography by
Hufton + Crow and
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‘This project is about encouraging potential students to come and experience the University of Oxford,’ says Ho-Yin Ng, director at Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A) whose connected Undergraduate Centre and Access Centre, designed to improve facilities and widen access at Wadham College, were completed at the start of the year. ‘It’s about trying to create a warm, welcoming building,’ he adds. The new scheme – for a college which is well-known for its progressive outlook and putting diversity and access at its core – hopes to host a language summer school in August, with face-to-face teaching taking place for the first time since the pandemic began.