Cranmer Road, King's College

King's College benefits from an impressive stock of buildings built over the past six centuries which includes some of the most celebrated buildings in Cambridge. Despite this, the College only had limited accommodation for its students. A College site located within the West Cambridge Conservation Area was identified as the location for a new graduate campus to fill in this gap. Located on Grange Road and bordered on the north by Cranmer Road and the south by Leckhampton Lane, a private road owned by Corpus Christi College, it had two existing buildings, Grasshopper Lodge and Cranmer Lodge, each with their own back gardens with numerous mature trees.

Cranmer Lodge is a three storey late Victorian red brick villa with a tile double hipped roof, set back from Cranmer Road with a generous gravel frontage. The original layout has been subdivided to accommodate a number of smaller student rooms none of which contain ensuite bathrooms. Grasshopper Lodge is comprised of two three storey villas that were linked together in the 1980's to form one building. The original layout of the villas remains largely intact resulting in some very large student rooms. Both these existing buildings address the Grange Road, the main spine road running part the site, but are set back from the pavement to provide generous frontages and have important heritage value.

A new Villa Building faces onto Cranmer Road, occupying a gap between existing buildings. Its scale, form and materiality respond to its Arts and Crafts neighbours. Standing at three storeys, the villa is characterised by a pitched roof, dormers and gables. The materials, echoing the neighbouring villas, include red brick walls, brick chimneys, tiled roofs, reconstituted stone detailing and white window frames. Familiar and robust, the materials are designed to age gracefully. The building is conceived as a 'shared house' with shared bathrooms - an arrangement that resulted from close consultation with the graduate community who were keen to achieve a range of rent levels. A large kitchen common room on the ground floor serves as the social heart of the building and benefits from glazed doors that open out into the gardens. The building contains 19 study-bedrooms.

A larger new Garden Building is nestled into the back of the gardens parallel with Leckhampton Lane. Its elevational treatment - incorporating pre-cast concrete elements and terracotta - is a response to West Cambridge's heritage of modernist architecture. This building is fully ensuite with 40 study-bedrooms. The white pre-cast concrete screen is set alongside grey brickwork 'bookends' creating a rhythmic edge to the central garden. Alternating glazed windows and louvered terracotta screens create a layered facade that adapts to the different room conditions within the building.

A central common room serving the whole site opens out into the shared gardens and provides a central focus to the campus. A colonnade, linking the two parts of the building, overlooks an intimate courtyard garden at the back. Generous dual-aspect kitchen-dining rooms benefit from Juliet balconies that open out into the courtyard.

At each end of the building, the stair enclosures - which can be glimpsed from surrounding streets - are given a special treatment: precast concrete canopies cantilever over the entrances, while expansive lantern-like corner windows with frameless glazing offer views out into the gardens. Unusually, the stair enclosure is outside the thermal envelope to minimise space heating demand and offer more architectural freedom.

This project significantly increases the number of graduate students that King's can accommodate, delivering on the College's aim to enhance student experience and wellbeing and increase participation in College life. The project also responds to the College's aims to contribute positively to the city's special historic character, while achieving growth and long-term value.

The new buildings have brought together a previously fragmented graduate community into a new cohesive campus at Cranmer Road, enabling graduate students to live and study in a high-quality and enjoyable environment. The student experience, including their health and wellbeing, was at the core of the client's brief and central to the design of the buildings and landscape. This not only delivered excellent accommodation but also created ab exceptional environment to study, socialise and relax. The buildings have been designed to provide high comfort levels including ample natural daylight and high-quality filtered air, to support working, promote healthy circadian rhythm and reduce reliance on artificial lighting.