Performance and sustainability are key at landmark humanities centre
Funded by a gift from American businessman and philanthropist Stephen A. Schwarzman, Hopkins Architects have designed the University of Oxford’s largest single building project, The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre For The Humanities. The new centre provides a home for Oxford’s humanities faculties, the new Bodleian Humanities Library, and leading research institutes, including the Institute for Ethics in AI and the Oxford Internet Institute.
The elegant limestone and cream brickwork clad, four storey building, sits comfortably among Oxford’s traditional architectural palette. Arranged around a central atrium, the Great Hall is topped with a double dome of glass, steel and wood. Public performance spaces include the 500-seat concert hall, a 250-seat theatre, a black box immersive performance space, cinema, exhibition hall, museum, a café and a bar, all set in extensive gardens. The development comprises over 25,300m2 of space and nearly 1,000 rooms.
The golden threads of fire safety, sustainability, and regulatory compliance
Hopkins Architects about the project, “The design prioritises openness. The public route through the building avoids conventional barriers to entry and is punctuated by public spaces of differing scale and character. “Advanced modern methods of construction provided both speed and quality, while BIM and VR tools ensured precision across the design team, contractor, and supply chain, embedding the golden threads of fire safety, sustainability, and regulatory compliance.”
In 2020 Purcell Architecture were appointed heritage consultant on the £150m scheme. Since 2023, they have been involved in the technical design delivery in close collaboration with Hopkins Architects and main contractor, Laing O’Rourke. Purcell’s continued design expertise ensured best-practice energy performance and long-term environmental responsibility, creating a truly future-ready building for generations to come.
Main contractor, Laing O’Rourke, had three key strategies for the scheme: Modern Methods of Construction (MMC); digital engineering; a focused direct delivery approach. All trade partners adopted offsite manufacture where possible. Digital technology was central to their approach, with a ‘build twice’ strategy; first in a digital environment, then physically on site. The direct delivery strategy allowed for precision control over key components, workforce planning, and quality assurance. The approach resulted in a reduced overall construction period of just 2.5 years, with the entire structure completed in 25 weeks, two weeks ahead of programme.
Passivhaus; creating a fresh, healthy, and light-filled environment
In addition to Max Fordham’s role as acoustician for the project, the firm were also mechanical and electrical engineers, lighting designers, and contractor side Passivhaus advisors. They said that sustainability was a key design principle, and remarked that the project represents the largest Passivhaus building in the UK and incorporates the world’s first Passivhaus concert hall.
Max Fordham Passivhaus Director, and Partner, Gwilym Still, “We’re delighted the Schwarzman Centre set its sustainability ambitions to meet the rigorous Passivhaus standard. This has helped create a fresh, healthy, and light-filled environment throughout the building.”
Precision installation in key spaces
Two specialist contractors carried out the installation of around 16,000m2 of ceiling systems throughout the centre, London and Birmingham based CG Reynolds, and Flynn Interiors Limited, who are headquartered in London.
Luke Humpage of CG Reynolds, “We installed ceilings using options from the Rockfon Blanka® range in various formats throughout levels one to three of the centre, which included within the Great Hall and the Bodleian Library.”
Flynn Interiors Project Manager, Andrius Jadenkus, “We installed Rockfon Blanka across the majority of open public areas and various rooms located on the three lower levels of the building. This included key spaces such as the Bates Collection, the auditorium, cinema, and exhibition hall. Due to the nature of the trims and the precision required, constructing floating ceiling rafts using Infinity upstand trims meant the raft frames needed to be preassembled at floor level, then lifted into position and fully tiled once installed. The Rockfon technical department provided prompt guidance whenever needed.”
When the control of sound is paramount
Rockfon Specification Manager, Steven Watters, “We are very pleased and proud to have played our part in such a prestigious project, especially where the control of sound is paramount, such as in performance and learning spaces. Rockfon Blanka® delivers 87% light reflection, >99% light diffusion and between 26dB and 46dB room to room sound insulation. It is available in a wide choice of options for fixing and usage, while Its elegant, easy clean, anti-static surface prolongs product life and is non-directional, saving installation time, and money.”
Used to create concealed, semi-concealed and exposed ceiling solutions, with an audible 'click' for fast and accurate installations, our easily demountable, strong and stable T24 Click Grid system was also used throughout the centre. Rockfon® Infinity™ Engineered Perimeter Trim was used extensively, the straight or curved ceiling perimeter trim integrates with standard acoustical grid or specialty metal system, is factory mitered and engineered to individual specification.
Elsewhere at the centre, non-hygroscopic Rockfon® CleanSpace™ has been used. Guaranteed to retain it’s dimensional stability and shape in demanding conditions, it is ideal for where hygiene is key. Versatile Rockfon Koral has also been used to good effect within rest rooms and showers. All Rockfon ranges embody Class A sound absorption and Class A1 reaction to fire performance.
