Patalab Office Trip to Cambridge

Date

25.10.2025

Our experience through Cambridge

The Patalab team got out of the office and joined up in Cambridge for a trip around the historic city. We were very grateful to be granted access to the inner sanctuaries of the colleges usually only reserved for staff and students.

Over the course of the day the team visited many award winning projects beginning at the Stirling Prize winning Accordia development; by Alison Brooks Architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley, and Maccreanor Lavington; through the ‘High Modern’ Faculty of History Library by Stirling and Gowan (after whom the prize is named); to one of the more recent winners of the prize: Madgalene New College Library by Niall McLaughlin.

Heong Gallery - Caruso St John

Accordia - Alison Brooks, Feilden Clegg Bradley, and Maccreanor Lavington

Darwin College Study Centre by Dixon Jones Architects

One highlight of the trip was accessing the Study Centre by Dixon Jones Architects. The, now 30-year-old, building is an excellent study in working with a tight difficult site between the bend of Silver Street, one of the main routes through the town, and the River Cam. A sensitive addition to the town; it perches over the river providing study spaces for Darwin College with generous gestures with tall ceilings and outdoor balcony space.

Natural materials used through the building such as solid oak columns and lead roofs have weathered over time adding to the character of the building. The building draws on and reacts to the historic context of the city and uses a vernacular language recalling medieval fortifications or successive extensions to an even older building.

Darwin College Study Centre - Dixon Jones

Cowan Court - 6a Architects

Cowan Court by 6a Architects

In a similar vein, 20 years later, 6a Architects built Cowan Court for Churchill College on the outskirts of the city. Here, the architect has provided student accommodation for the relatively new college on an open site allowing for larger bolder gestures.

Again, the architects have specified natural materials, in this case untreated reclaimed oak cladding, which have added character to the building as they have aged. Inside large triple glazed windows have deep window seats and sit within thickly insulated walls in the student’s bedrooms. The whole plan revolves around a large central courtyard which is densely planted offering shade in the summer and a private space for residents of the college to collect.

We not only enjoyed the modern buildings but took in the historic context of the city as well as enjoying its food and drinks. Overall, the day was a great opportunity to come together as a practice outside of the studio.