News Feed

A proposal for graduate housing for Hertford College on their backland site in north Oxford. The rotunda is designed as a freestanding pavilion in the centre of an urban block of large Victorian villas, following the same idea as the Hilda Besse building at the centre of St Antony’s College in the adjacent urban block, and roughly similar to the parti of the Radcliffe Camera down the road. This design strategy was favourably received by the planners, but subsequently the college combined with the university on a wider masterplan for the area which adopted a very different approach to the housing element, distributing it in a collection of buildings which have a lower profile but which spread across all the gardens of the original villas. This has taken many years of negotiation to get through planning and is now just about to start on site. It doesn’t give them any more rooms though…

(We have been testing out different AI visualisation packages recently by revisiting a few schemes from the past which did not progress beyond the drawing board and upgrading the rather crude Sketchup imagery. This one was done via Google Gemini using Nano Banana Pro. It is astonishingly fast and effective - and improving week by week.)

#oxforduniversity #graduatehousing #architectinoxford #drawingboard #didntgetoffthedrawingboard #rotunda #oxford ...

We have completed the conversion of a Magdalen College squash court into their new gym. Two floors of equipment with enough air handling to cope with a full rugby squad. New rooflights and windows with a panoramic vista over the Magdalen deer park. It’s as if you’re erging with the deer.
Great teamwork with @bidwellsllp, @cbgconsultantsltd, Lawfull Associates and Richard Ward Oxford.
#gymwithaview #deer #deerpark #Oxford #magdalencollegeoxford #architectinoxford #rowingwithaview ...

Enfilade, noun (architectural): “A series of rooms aligned along a single axis.”
Ideally with windows on the southernmost flank so the spaces are bathed in sunlight on occasion.

#enfilade #wintersun #architectinoxford #design #designinspiration #lightfilled #openplanliving #oxfordshireinteriordesign #oxford #oxfordshire ...

The best Christmas present? For us it has been winning consent for this new building, starting on site on Oxford’s London Road in the spring.
Merry Christmas everyone!

@savvy.group

#planningpermission #londonroadoxford #architectinoxford #bestchristmaspresent ...

Winter sun catching our latest building coming off the blocks.

Beautiful rental apartments by the river in Oxford.

@belmarknightingale

#wintersun #wintersunshine☀️ #riverside #riversideliving #apartments #Oxford #architectinoxford #design #stripes ...

The Oxford Preservation Trust Awards are long established and well respected. It’s an honour to be shortlisted among such a variety of positive contributions to the built and natural environments of the city. And we are pleased as Punch that our brilliant builders - GC interiors - will be representing Copper Bottom at the ceremony.

Photo credit: @fisherstudios

@gc.interiors @solid.engineering @cbgconsultantsltd @timberinnovations @ukpropertyforums @oxfordprestrust

#wildflowermeadow #copperbottom #architectinoxford #sustainablearchitecture #oxeyedaisy #immersedinnature ...

Preview of a new house we are just finishing. The stair hall.

#beautifulstairs #lightandspace #staircase #gentletread #architectinoxford #handrail ...

A sneak preview of our new apartment block beside the Thames in Oxford which has just shed its scaffold cocoon.

@belmarknightingale

#lifebythethames #riverside #livingbytheriver #riverthamesoxford #apartmentliving #brick #stripes #architectinoxford #modernlivingspaces ...

It is ironic that we are obliged to book two long haul flights to Miami to present our super sustainable project to the jury as one of the finalists in the World Architecture Festival 2025. We have worked hard to ensure Copper Bottom is truly net zero and will make a positive contribution over time to reducing our carbon footprint. But we do not see it as an eccentric anomaly; it is intended as a paradigm to demonstrate how the necessity for buildings to be net zero and green power stations can be a positive catalyst for creative form-making. Attending the World Architecture Festival is a brilliant way to spread this message round the globe.

#sustainablebuilding #greenenergy #sustainabledesign #sustainabledevelopment #worldarchitecturefestival2025 #wildflowermeadow #Oxford #architectinoxford #copperbottom ...

Crumbs! Copper Bottom has been shortlisted as one of the best new rural houses in the WHOLE BLOOMING WORLD. It is a finalist in the World Architecture Festival 2025.

@worldarchfest

#worldarchitecturefestival2025 #WAF25 #besthouse #copperbottom #architectinoxford #designinspiration #architecture #bestvilla ...

Breaking news: AJA have two buildings shortlisted for the 2025 UK Brick Awards.
Queen Elizabeth Hall in the Housing category and Copper Bottom in the Sustainability category.
Neither of them is the usual fare for the brick awards, and neither of them is just about brick, but they both celebrate and exploit its unique qualities.

#brickdevelopmentassociation #brick #brickbeauty #award #architectinoxford #queenelizabethhall #copperbottom #housing #sustainability ...

Villa Katerina 3. The house belongs to the island vet, and is home to nine cats, three dogs, one pony and an unknown number of tortoises. The courtyard has tall doors on its open side so it can be closed off when the wind blows.

#greekisland #kythira #oculus #courtyard #courtyardhouse #bluesky #views #islandliving #architectinoxford #islandvet #indooroutdoorliving #catsanddogs #pony #tortoise ...