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Bringing The Outdoors In Architecture and interior design firm, 74, renovates former Victorian gymnasium into the new Hox Park student campus. Images: Ed Kingsland
Manchester-based architecture and interior design practice 74 has completed a major project to extend and remodel a Grade II-listed, two-storey, Victorian brick building in a semi-rural location in Englefield Green, just outside Egham. Dating back to the 1890s and originally home to a gymnasium for the Indian Engineering College, which occupied the site between 1890 and 1905, the building has, over the years, adopted and lost various extensions and before the recent refurbishment, had laid dormant for fifteen years. The repurposed 453sqm building – Hox Haus – will serve as the central focus, clubhouse and social amenity for Hox Park student campus, newly-created by developers Moorfield Group for students attending Royal Holloway, University of London. Located within a larger, 67-acre mixed-use site, owned by Royalton Group, the Hox Park campus is one aspect of an overall masterplan for the site that also includes affordable and luxury housing, as well as an Audley Senior Living village. The vision for Hox Haus was to encompass a number of important practical, social and unifying functions for its student users, serving as a welcome point and gatehouse; parcel pick-up area; workspace for single study or group study and a downtime amenity with TV and games lounges, offering video-gaming booths, pool and table football. The building will also serve as the campus hospitality hang-out and has been flexibly designed for easy reconfiguration as a special event space, with moveable furniture and built-in bar points able to house pop-up catering. Architecturally, Hox Haus is a stylish, eyecatching and dynamic two-storey building that seeks to blend its original Victorian brickwork with two new glazed light box interventions, creating a light-filled and largely transparent overall space that brings the outside in, references the building’s semi-rural location and offers a warm,
comfortable and relaxing home-from-home for students. The two new interventions constitute a double-height, 44sqm gatehouse to the building’s east elevation and a 35sqm, covered terrace section on the first-storey, offering views over the whole campus. The terrace extension sits behind the parapet of an existing ground-floor extension, making it subservient to the host building. Royalton Group initially invited 74 to produce a site analysis exploring the building’s further development potential, before private equity real estate fund manager Moorfield Group went on to commission the design studio to develop an integrated vision. “The brief for Hox Haus evolved gradually from the outset,” David Holt, Founder and Director of 74 explained. “Whilst we were initially brought in to look at the interiors of the student accommodation - a speciality of the practice - we were then engaged to explore the potential of this unloved building and, by determining the need for an appropriate amenities provision for the student body, were able to rescue it from decay and provide a much needed focal point for this large-scale, semi-rural student accommodation development.” The heritage of the building was a key driver for the interior approach and, unlike many architectural projects, the interior was in fact the key driver overall, so that the architecture is subservient to both the existing host building and the functions within. The overriding concept was to create a space that felt like a country retreat or clubhouse-with-a-twist. The new gatehouse provides a sense of arrival, whilst offering a separation between the functions of ‘reception’ and the need for a comfortable student social space monitored, but not overlooked, by staff. While certain areas have key functions, such as the two group study areas or the TV and gaming lounges, others are multi-functional,
for students to make use of as they wish. The central zones are more obviously social, whilst quieter areas can be found along the edges of the two-storey space and within the first floor extension directly above the welcome area. Another major design driver was the building’s rural aspect and the design therefore strives to make the most of views over the historic surrounding countryside, as well as bringing the outside in via natural references and creating a rich, textured and high-quality feel with a materials palette that includes marble-effect Hanex solid surfacing and brass detailing. Upholstery fabrics include textiles that nod to British rural tradition, such as checks and tweeds, whilst colours span a whole nature-inspired autumn-to-winter palette and feature greys, browns, rusts and moss greens, with bursts of berry brights and large-scale, natureinspired print wallpaper on opposing feature walls at the ends of the ground floor. Lighting throughout, is supplied by Enigma Lighting and is used to create pockets of atmosphere. While decorative lighting is the main focus, subtle architectural up and downlighters are set within the ceiling and show off the structure of the brickwork. Rachel Whitey, Associate Director at 74 outlines the role decorative lighting played in the scheme: “Decorative lighting was absolutely essential to its success, both in terms of how it is viewed externally and how it felt internally. Part of the client’s brief was the clear desire for a hospitalitystyle environment and for it to not feel like a typical commercial office or education facility. “Key lighting considerations were to ensure the desired lighting levels were achieved for studying within the space, without creating a blanket light over the entire area. The balance was about creating pockets of useable, focused light for study, while also creating a hospitality feel that is both intimate and homely. We managed