The Competition
In 2016, Jamie Fobert Architects was invited by Pembroke College, Cambridge, to participate in a competition for masterplanning the Mill Lane site.
In Pembroke, there is a sense of being protected and sheltered by the college buildings, and yet there is an openness and freedom in the gardens and skies. To create continuity of character at the new site, we felt there must similarly be a strong sense of dialogue between the buildings and gardens, between one open space and the next.
We created a new court for accommodation, where the chimney towers of a nearby college building are reinterpreted as stair towers.
Each stair tower can be combined at ground level with a recessed terrace, or loggia—a place to sit and read and look out across the garden; a place for informal conversations and encounters. And each stair and loggia can be combined with a shared study space, anticipating a certain informality in the formation of stair tower ‘micro communities’.
A newly created court, revealing the façade of Emmanuel Church, forms the approach to Pembroke’s new site. It is fronted by an elegant stone screen, which defines the college’s boundary and enables security at night and privacy in exam term by way of sliding, wrought iron railings. The proposed slender façade is derived from the stone and brick compositions found throughout the College.
The handsome stone screen and generously proportioned passage beyond combine to create a strong sense of place where Pembroke meets Trumpington Street. Here, members of the college may gather, chat or pause.