The Yard, University of Roehampton ← Works ← Henley Halebrown

The Yard, University of Roehampton London 2011–2012

The Yard is an experimental brick court and is the first built phase of our masterplan for the University. It replaces a former trades yard and workshops. The existing Digby Stuart College chapel, and a café and shop open onto this new public space.

‘Beyond the initial sense of unity and coherence lie a variety of details that carefully articulate and suggest how the space may be used.’ Hugh Strange, 2013

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The Yard gives a clear physical indication of the approach and philosophy informing the wider masterplan, making sense of the incremental and piecemeal additions that have been made to the campus over the years
The Yard refers to the type of working yard often found nearby the stable blocks of grand houses
The scheme incorporates the garden wall of James Wyatt's grade II listed Grove House and historic garden
The new works have been completed almost entirely in brick, lending a consistent material expression to the space and presenting an essay in the use of brickwork
The historic garden wall was reduced in height, repointed and limewashed and then stabilised with new brick buttresses
The perimeter of the Yard incorporates various elements that invite a use, here a niche bench built into the wall
A new external link cut through the Newman Building links Froebel and Digby Stuart Colleges
Here, looking south to the Yard from the Newman Link
Water struck, these unusual bricks are 210mm x 48mm x 70mm, and when fired turn purple, silver, brown and red. The sheer weight of the masonry is revealed by the load-bearing Flemish-bond bench walls

architects Henley Halebrown

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