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March 20, 2025

David Kohn Designs a Whimsical Quad for New College Oxford

With distinctive undulating roofs, diamond-patterned stone facades, and a series of stone gargoyles, the addition brings a playful approach to the historic campus.

By: Debika Ray

Photography: Will Pryce

In Britain’s ancient university towns, the term ‘town and gown’ has long been used to describe the adversarial relationship between permanent residents and a transient student population—a divide often reflected in the architecture of its educational institutions. When New College Oxford was founded in 1379, the fortress-like quality of its architecture was intended to protect its students from conflicts like the St Scholastica Day riot of 1355, which resulted in almost 100 deaths among both local citizens and scholars. Its pioneering design brought together all college functions—lodgings, library, chapel and dining hall—around one central, cloistered space: the Front Quadrangle.

A different approach underpinned its expansion in 1403: New College built Oxford’s first planned three-sided quad, which marked a shift from the inward-looking architecture of the past to a more welcoming presence. It’s this approach that inspired architect David Kohn in the design of the Gradel Quadrangles, a £72 million project that’s the latest phase in New College’s story. “In the 17th century there was some progress towards the town and institution become much closer, which we saw as a positive story,” he explains. “That’s the relationship we wanted to focus on with our design.”

The main aim of the project was to create more student accommodation. The college had been trying to do so for decades on a patch of land it owned in a conservation area, but had failed to gain planning permission to demolish some of the structures on it. In 2015, it decided to take a different approach: it launched a competition to create a masterplan for the entire site, maximising the potential of its gardens, while complying with planning restrictions.

The result is what the Kohn’s team hopes will be known as Oxford’s first ever curved quad—a trio of open spaces of different shapes, bookended by existing buildings, which together act as meandering gardens flowing through the college structure. It offers 94 student bedrooms, a shared study space, classrooms, assembly halls, dining facilities and a public auditorium. “The design flowed from the recognition that a lot of architecture in Oxford was defensive in its origins, and that we didn’t need to repeat that,” Kohn says. “We were keen to distinguish between a quad as a building type, and the fact that it’s essentially a shared territory with buildings surrounding it, which can be continuous or open. In our design, the connection between the institution, nature and the city is more fluid.”

There are limits to how much such institutions can be opened up, but its perimeters are designed to be more porous that those of historic colleges. For example, instead of a doors, the entrance is a large archway with a semi-permeable gate designed by artist Eva Rothschild. When it come to views in and out, Kohn says, “there’s a strong sense of foreground, mid-ground, and background, laid out for visual enjoyment.” The building itself has a sense of lightness and play—with distinctive undulating roofs, diamond-patterned stone facades, and a series of stone gargoyles and grotesques on the roofline that depict endangered animals. The carvings were conceived and fabricated by stone carver Fergus Wessel with input from artist Monster Chetwynd.

And what is it like for the students? “In older colleges, the courtyards are quite formal—you can’t go on the grass, for example,” Kohn says. “Here, you’re encouraged to sit and use it, and to wander around. It’s a social building with a general sense of informality.”

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