Modern Architecture in an Oxford College

Book excerpt: This book is a detailed historical study of the post-war architecture of St John's College, Oxford. In the sixty years since 1945 St John's has been one of the major patrons of modern architecture in Oxford and Cambridge, commissioning a series of innovative and successful buildings from a sequence of leading architectural practices (Architects Co-Partnership, Arup Associates, MacCormac Jamieson Pritchard). The college's modern buildings epitomise changing architectural ideas and practice over the last sixty years, from the neo-Georgianism of the immediate post-war years through the confident modernism of the late 1950s to the 1970s, to the post-modernism of more recent years. Geoffrey Tyack discusses these buildings in detail, with the help of copious illustrations, placing each building within the context of its architect's oeuvre and relating it to the changing character of Oxford University. It is thus intended to be a contribution to the understanding both of modern collegiate architecture and of reent English architectural in general. Publication will coincide with the 450th anniversary of the foundation of St John's College.