Feilden Fowles completes timber-framed dining hall at University of Cambridge

[Celerity]

https://www.dezeen.com/2022/05/23/feilden-fowles-tile-clad-homerton-college-dining-hall-cambridge/









London architecture studio Feilden Fowles has completed a timber-framed dining hall at the University of Cambridge's Homerton College with a faience-tiled volume set above a pigmented-concrete colonnade. Designed to reference the adjacent arts and crafts-style Ibberson Building and the college's Victorian Gothic Revival buildings, the dining hall contains the main eating space along with a smaller room for eating called a buttery, kitchens and staff amenities.









The London-based studio, led by Fergus Feilden and Edmund Fowles, designed the building to replace the previous dining hall and dark, cramped and outdated kitchen facilities at Cambridge's youngest college. The college moved to the site in 1894 from its original home in east London and occupies several buildings that were constructed in the 1870s for Cavendish College.









"The design of the hall is symbolic of Homerton's progressive character and bold ambitions, yet simultaneously in conversation with the rich architectural heritage of Cambridge," said Feilden Fowles director, Edmund Fowles. "There are echoes of the marching buttresses of King's College Chapel, references to the Victorian Gothic Revival of Homerton's Cavendish College buildings, and motifs of the neighbouring arts and crafts Ibberson Building," he added. "They combine as a marker of today's architectural thinking, an embodiment of low-tech principles, an arts and crafts of the 21st century."







The building is designed as a social fulcrum for the college campus, with a series of courtyards and cloisters around its perimeter creating informal spaces for meetings and chance encounters. The ground floor plinth is constructed from pigmented concrete with columns set out on a three-metre grid that lends a rational and ordered appearance to the elevations.

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[niyad]

1. I love the kitchen!

[2naSalit]

2. The interior looks interesting...

The exterior is hideous.

[Shellback Squid]

3. my thought too

[Celerity]

4. disagree

The exterior is hideous.

[northoftheborder]

5. Fabulous

A modern building with modern materials but respectful of historic proportions, scale, and style. Thanks for sharing photos..

[2naSalit]

6. Interesting...

I've been there and I don't think the exterior fits in at all and I don't think it looks good, no matter where they put it. It kind of looks like they were going for the thatched roof look with that but it doesn't look like a successful attempt. I think they could have done something different and more aesthetically pleasing while complimenting the surrounding architecture.

The interior is interesting enough and resembles some of the modern interiors I saw when I was there, it's not an unpleasant looking space at all.

JMHO.