{"id":269402,"date":"2025-10-01T14:41:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T14:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/269402\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T14:41:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T14:41:18","slug":"hopkins-architects-arranges-schwarzman-centre-around-atrium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/269402\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopkins Architects arranges Schwarzman Centre around atrium"},"content":{"rendered":"

London studio Hopkins Architects<\/a> has completed a performing arts<\/a> and education centre at the University of Oxford<\/a>, which features a four-storey atrium and a Passivhaus concert hall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Set to open on 13 October, the 25,300-square-metre Schwarzman Centre unites seven faculties of the university<\/a>‘s Humanities Division in one building, alongside the Institute for Ethics in AI and the new Bodleian Humanities Library.<\/p>\n

Alongside three upper floors of teaching and research facilities, the centre also contains spaces for dance, film and theatre.<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorHopkins Architects has completed a centre for the Humanities Division at the University of Oxford<\/p>\n

This includes a 250-seat theatre and a 500-seat concert hall. According to Hopkins Architects<\/a>, the latter is the world’s first Passivhaus concert hall.<\/p>\n

It was designed as part of a wider sustainability strategy for the project, which aims to have the entire building meet Passivhaus standards and the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard.<\/p>\n

“The Schwarzman Centre unites Oxford’s Humanities in a welcoming, sustainable landmark,” the studio said.<\/p>\n

\"ViewClipsham stone and brick were chosen to blend into the historical context<\/p>\n

“It strengthens interdisciplinarity, opens the University to the City, and provides a new cultural hub, creating an inspiring, flexible, and enduring home for dialogue, research, and performance,” added Hopkins Architects.<\/p>\n

“On track to achieve Passivhaus certification in 2025, it will be the largest Passivhaus scheme in England and the world’s first Passivhaus concert hall.”<\/p>\n

The Schwarzman Centre was funded by the American businessman and project’s namesake, Stephen Schwarzman, who contributed \u00a3185 million towards the development.<\/p>\n

\"GreatThe building is organised around a four-storey hall<\/p>\n

Clipsham stone and brick define the building’s cream-toned exterior, which was chosen by the studio to “sit comfortably in its historic setting”.<\/p>\n

Framed by landscaped gardens, the centre has a collonaded front elevation and is punctuated by gridded glazing on the upper floors.<\/p>\n

The facilities are arranged around the Great Hall, which is a central four-storey atrium flanked by a double-height lobby and entrance arcades at each end.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gradel<\/p>\n

David Kohn Architects curves University of Oxford college building around three-sided quadrangles\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

A 19-metre-wide dome crowns the central hall, with an intricate geometric form that rises seven metres above the building’s roofline.<\/p>\n

At its publicly accessible ground level, the hall provides a flexible space for hosting events. This is overlooked by the three upper floors of faculties lined with study desks.<\/p>\n

“Envisaged as a unifying space, to bring together individual academic faculties and members of the public, the Great Hall provides a unique forum for engagement and study,” the studio said.<\/p>\n

\"DomeThe Great Hall is crowned with a 19-metre-wide dome<\/p>\n

Lining the central spaces are a gallery, cinema, museum and recording studio, alongside a learning centre and events area for the Institute of Ethics in AI.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the centre’s two lower ground floors have been dedicated to performance spaces, which are organised around a double-height foyer and bar.<\/p>\n

\"PerformancePerformance spaces are held across two basement levels<\/p>\n

This includes the triple-height Sohmen Concert Hall, which has a 500-seat capacity, along with a 250-seat theatre designed as an adaptable and multi-functional venue.<\/p>\n

Other university buildings recently featured on Dezeen include a jagged terracotta-clad addition to the Rice School of Architecture in Texas<\/a> and a German university building designed to be “as flexible as possible”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Hufton + Crow<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London studio Hopkins Architects has completed a performing arts and education centre at the University of Oxford, which…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":269403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,140190,133923,1033,171,140189,16719,140191,92915,92916,92917,133307,3470,67,132,16995,90224,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-269402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-concert-halls","11":"tag-cultural-buildings","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-hopkins-architects","15":"tag-oxford","16":"tag-performance-venues","17":"tag-sectionall","18":"tag-sectionarchitecture","19":"tag-sectionnews","20":"tag-theatres","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-universities","25":"tag-university-of-oxford","26":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115299437517277497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}