Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford

About

The School’s aim is to become a center of excellence for the study of government and public policy within Oxford University, teaching the practice of government in ways which will strengthen communities, create opportunities and foster cooperation across the world. Such a vision requires a specific response and building. The starting point is from the heart of the building, the Forum. This space cuts through the school as a vertical public space connecting all the levels and programs together into one whole. Central to a school of government is the idea of openness, communication and transparency. The central forum takes this principle literally by stitching all levels together and providing congregation, meeting and social spaces. Its arrangement is in many ways like that of an auditorium with a series of interconnected terraces that step up from the ground floor all the way to the upper levels of the School. Each terrace could operate as a separate space, for example as a study area or as part of one connected whole volume for a larger presentation. The Forum will be a space that encourages communication and discussion, formal and informal, planned and accidental. Prominently located at the southwest corner of the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter (ROQ), the School will be the first building people see when approaching this quarter from the south, and so has the potential to become a gateway into this new part of the University and a symbol of its development. The immediate context is a complex situation with the adjacencies of St Paul’s Church and Somerville College to both sides and the Oxford University Press across Walton Street. Its cylindrical shapes show analogies to government buildings and universities around the world.

Sources

• Arquitectura Viva
• Arquitectura Viva