The yellow brick outer wall of the new mini quad of Keble College. – Vintage Photograph

Seen from the air, the new extension to Keble College at the corner of Blackhall and Museum Roads in Oxford forms a distinctive question mark. The building was officially opened by Princess Margaret last year and has been largely subsidised by two wealthy benefactors. It presents two contrasting faces to the world; to the public it appears as a high wall of yellow brick, while on the inside its facade is mostly glass. The building has been chosen as one of the seven best modern British buildings of 1978, and the outright winner in the southern region, by the Royal Institute of British Architects. It has been designed to blend in with the 19th century Keble Butterfield’s unique Victorian Gothic creation and has generally been well received.Seen from the air, the new extension to Keble College at the corner of Blackhall and Museum Roads in Oxford forms a distinctive question mark. The building was officially opened by Princess Margaret last year and has been largely subsidised by two wealthy benefactors. It presents two contrasting faces to the world; to the public it appears as a high wall of yellow brick, while on the inside its facade is mostly glass. The building has been chosen as one of the seven best modern British buildings of 1978, and the outright winner in the southern region, by the Royal Institute of British Architects. It has been designed to blend in with the 19th century Keble Butterfield’s unique Victorian Gothic creation and has generally been well received.

Dimensions: 20.4 x 28.7 cm

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OXFORD TIMES, FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1978 One of the entrances to Keble College’s new extension Seen from the air, it is the only set of buildings in Oxford that is laid out in the form of a question mark. But the architects responsible for the distinctive modern extension to Keble College have shown they know nearly all the answers. There were certainly no queries or doubts in the minds of the judges in this year’s annual Royal Institute of British Architects awards. CITY New Keble block wins award They have chosen Keble’s new stu- dent and teaching block as one of the seven best modern British buildings 13 AUG 1978 of 1978, and the outright winner in the southern region. It stands at the corner of Blackhall and Museum Roads, and effectively forms a new quadrangle at the rear of the college. The new building was officially opened by Princess Margaret last year. It has been largely subsidised by two wealthy benefactors and presents two contrasting faces to the world. To the public outside it appears only as a high wall of virtually unbro- ken yellow brick, but on the inside its MEMORY DVD 203 Keble College, Oxford 1,600 pixels wide please The yellow brick outer wall of the new mini quad of Keble College. facade is a more dramatic one almost exclusively of glass. – Behind the tinted panes are teach- ing rooms, accommodation for 80 graduates and undergraduate stu- dents, a common room and a bar. At one end the building turns in on itself to form a mini-quandrangle. The RIBA award is a recognition of the skill with which the architetcts, Ahrends, Burton and Koralek, have overcome the classic Oxford problem of blending new design with the old and historic. Their task was made harder by the fact that the original 19th century Keble Butterfield’s unique Victo- rian Gothic creation in multi-coloured brick does not lend itself easily to compromise. It is a building that people have always either loved or hated – but never been able to ignore. By con- trast, the new block, although not without its critics, has on the whole been generally well received. ryone is very happy with the has turned out,” said Mr Capper, a college tutor and in of Keble’s building advis- el. as really been a most imagina- e of space in a way that has exceptionally harmonious e Butterfield architecture.” part from occasional complaints about noise and lack of privacy (“if there is a party, then everybody has to join in,” said one student), the new building also seems to be popular with the students and dons who live in it. Not every member of the college has appreciated its finer points. One old member of Keble approached the student bar, a semi- subterranean room hiding behind a row of angled, ground-level panes of glass, soon after it s completion. “Ah,” he was heard to say “so this is the swimming pool, is it?”