Rhodes House Transformation

Designed by Sir Herbert Baker and completed in 1929, Rhodes House is located on South Parks Road, in central Oxford. Set within extensive gardens, the building is the historic headquarters of the Rhodes Trust, an educational charity which oversees the world-renowned Rhodes Scholarships at the University of Oxford and several other global fellowship programmes. By modernising, refurbishing and extending this 100-year-old Grade II* listed building, the scheme ensures that Rhodes House remains a magical part of Oxford's architecture, a home for the Trust, its scholars and the wider Oxford community. It enables the building to operate effectively and sustainably, while supporting the Trust's mission to expand its global Scholarship programme. This transformation required significant interventions and major structural alterations to open up the existing building to enable the creation of a new 300-seat Conference Hall, Foyer spaces and offices, all invisibly integrated into Rhodes House, along with 21 bedrooms in the old East Wing and new residential accommodation in the East Gardens. A new glass pavilion sits within the West Gardens above new lower ground Office spaces. The Conference Hall and Foyer have been created by converting existing restricted archive spaces beneath the House’s main rooms and gardens. These new spaces are ventilated using air that is passively cooled through ground coupled earth ducts, providing a stable temperature of air year-round. The Conference Hall features a new vaulted roof providing a generosity of scale and flexibility for a variety of convenings as well as opening views to the verdant gardens beyond. The access to the archive spaces was originally tucked away from the main route, whereas now the Conference Hall and Foyer are entered via an elegant new stone staircase created in the centre of the Rotunda – Baker’s spectacular main entrance to Rhodes House. The new staircase leads delegates directly into the new Foyer below, where newly glazed existing lightwells bring daylight and natural ventilation to the reconfigured lower floors, as well as acting as informal breakout spaces and display areas for public art. In the West Garden, a new 50-seat glazed Pavilion provides a tranquil place for Scholars and the public to meet in a magnificent garden setting. Turning a perceived weakness of highly-glazed buildings into a strength, the Garden Pavilion is designed to act as a solar collector. Its glazed façades passively collect solar heat. Excess heat is extracted by fan coil units, keeping the space at a comfortable temperature; this heat is then used in the main building. Beneath the Pavilion a new Office space has been added, directly accessible from the historic premises. Adjacent to the East Wing, a new lower-ground Residential Courtyard, discreetly set within the East Garden, provides 16 bedrooms, all opening onto a leafy communal terrace echoing the materiality of the historic façade above. The earth-sheltered design, with the gardens reinstated above, retains clear views between Rhodes House and the Civil War Rampart, a significant archaeological feature within Oxford. A new Garden Room opens onto the Courtyard providing additional amenities for staff.