Student Village, Royal Veterinary College | Hawkins\Brown

The scheme allows for an increased number of students to live on campus, providing accommodation for 205 students, a restaurant and conference/meeting rooms. The college is set within 6 acres of Hertfordshire greenbelt. The new low-rise development is sensitive to its rural setting maintaining views across the campus. The mass of the scheme is broken down into a collection of low-rise three and four storey pavilions arranged around courtyards of varying sizes and linked by a lightweight aluminium core. The larger space towards the centre creates a focal point and a place where all students can congregate. The pavilions are arranged in pairs and linked by a lightweight aluminium clad lift and stair core. The public areas, including the restaurant, CPD areas and catered student accommodation are located in the south east corner of the development to connect with existing student services on the campus. A new landscaping scheme by Grontmij connects and unifies these buildings. The original campus buildings were built of brick and recent additions to the campus have been timber clad. The new development references this existing palette, by combining Western Red Cedar timber cladding with Bronsgroen brick, which are affordable and low maintenance materials that will age well with the cedar weathering to a silver grey. Inside the student accommodation full height oriel windows maximise daylight in each bedroom. One floor to ceiling panel glazed at an oblique angle is combined with two night purging panels set behind a perforated panel, to provide privacy and secure night ventilation. The aluminum cladding to the cores is perforated with a bespoke pattern designed in collaboration with Nicky Hirst, the visual artist that Hawkins\Brown previously worked with on the award-winning New Biochemistry department at the University of Oxford. The aluminum is anodised to a light bronze finish, which has been chosen to compliment the brick and timber finishes.