John Eccles House Oxford Science Park

104 Proctor and Matthews Archi tects 105

Sed non purus. Proin quis

neque nec felis sodales

pellentesque. Proin purus.

primis in faucibus orci

luctus et ultrices posuere

cubilia Curae.

John Eccles HouseOxford Science Park

John Eccles House

Bui ldings and Projects

John Eccles House, a Research and Development facility of around 2000m2 marks the eastern entrance to the Oxford University Science Park. The subject of a limited architectural competition (initiated by Magdalene College and Prudential Assurance with Allford Hall Monaghan and Morris [AHMM], Stephen Hodder and Robinson Thorne Architects as the competing teams), the design attempts to rethink “the bland universalism of science park architecture”.

Flexible office and laboratory accommodation is arranged in simple rectangular floor plates over three levels supported by triangular ‘book-ends’ of stacked services: a configuration which delivers the building’s distinctive trapezoidal form.

In the search for increased efficiencies of letable floor area, the entrance and reception space to John Eccles House is disengaged from the ground floor flexible floor plate and celebrated as a ‘detached’ pavilion. Inspired by the entrance sequence of Le Corbusier’s Salvation Army Hostel in Paris, this element - an assemblage of ramps, stepped platforms, screen walls and an integral floating deck and canopy - is articulated against a planar back drop of stack bonded blockwork. The entrance ‘gangways’ span a ‘sea’ of loosely laid cobble stones, and mark the beginning of a journey of contrasts. Industrial components including prefabricated metal grille ‘decking’ form the canopy walls and soffits and are juxtaposition against natural cedar screens and recycled sparkling blue crushed glass aggregate panels. This experimental resin bonded surface forms a glowing infil for galvanized steel balustrade and decking trays.

The materials are repeated in a ‘trapped landscaped’ garden designed by landscape architect Dominic Scott of Robert Rummey Associates and located at the rear of the building. Externally the convex configuration of louvred cedar fencing guides the visitor into the Science Park from the east. Internally it controls







cubilia Curae.






cubilia Curae.





cubilia Curae.

John Eccles House




John Eccles House







cubilia Curae.






cubilia Curae.

the play of dappled sunlight onto bamboo glades and crushed blue glass ‘streams’ within. Analogous to the sixteenth and seventeenth century Chinese soapstone carvings of dreamlike distant landscapes, this ‘abstract’ garden was designed primarily to be viewed from above. And, like its historical counterpart - an object of meditation on the desk of an ancient Mandarin - was conceived as a psychological valve to relieve stress and tension in the workspace of the twenty first century.

Kenneth Powell Architects Journal – Building Study 21.10.99






cubilia Curae.







cubilia Curae.






cubilia Curae.

John Eccles House


114 Proctor and Matthews Archi tects 115Bui ldings and Projects

John Eccles House






cubilia Curae.






cubilia Curae.






cubilia Curae.






cubilia Curae.


John Eccles House






cubilia Curae.






cubilia Curae.






cubilia Curae.


John Eccles House






cubilia Curae.






cubilia Curae.

Documents

John Eccles House Oxford Science Park