Buildings and Gardens

College Buildings

The architect of St. Catherine's, Arne Jacobsen, designed the college both to reflect elements of a traditional Oxford college and to be an entirely modern solution to the challenge of creating an integrated environment which would be both practical and aesthetically pleasing. At the heart of the College lies a rectangular quad, its sides formed by student rooms built in the conventional Oxford 'staircase' format, its ends consisting of the Dining Hall and Library.

Unlike most quads, however, St. Catherine's is not closed off; instead hedge-lined walks lead to other buildings, and to garden areas which are planted with a fascinating variety of trees, shrubs and flowers.   The whole is flanked on one side by the river Cherwell, and on the other by Merton College's playing fields which themselves border the University Parks, giving St. Catherine's an apparently rural setting which is yet only minutes away from the centre of Oxford.

Since the completion of the original buildings, a number of additions have been made. The College now has three blocks of student accommodation; a Dining Hall which can seat 350; a library; the Bernard Sunley Building which includes a large lecture theatre and a number of meeting rooms; the Mary Sunley Building, a purpose-built conference centre with lecture theatre and meeting room; spacious Junior and Senior Common Room areas; a Music House; squash courts and gymnasium; a punt house; car park.