Oxford University

A teaching and research building for the Social Sciences Division (Foster + Partners, Phase One 1998, Phase Two 2004)

The Manor Road building accommodates Facilities Management, the Centre for Criminology, the Department of Economics, the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR), the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, and the Department of Sociology.

You will find this relatively plain and functional building in concrete and glass between two of Oxford’s finest modern masterpieces, the St Cross Building (Leslie Martin and Colin St John Wilson, 1964) and St Catherine’s College (Arne Jacobsen, 1964). While it may lack the originality of Norman Foster’s greatest works it shares some recognisable Foster themes. Open-plan, flexible spaces are combined with a central atrium, and the final phase added shared facilities including a library, seminar rooms, lecture theatres, common areas and a canteen, to ‘encourage interdisciplinary interaction’.

Manor Road, Oxford, OX1 3UQ