Owlstone Croft
Queens' College, Cambridge
Owlstone Croft is owned by Queens’ College Cambridge and provides shared student accommodation. Situated on a sensitive two-and-a-half-acre site, it’s next to Paradise Nature Reserve and the ancient water meadows on the banks of the River Cam. Working with architects Mikhail Riches as part of a Net Zero Carbon masterplan to introduce 60 generous study bedrooms in 13 new postgraduate homes, we took inspiration from the adjacent wetland landscapes and integrated a complex SuDS and biodiversity net gain strategy.
The landscape needs to support this sociable and close-knit student community without diminishing the ecological and historic sense of place. The buildings are integrated into a water-inspired landscape of swales and damp meadows, with the south facing ‘secret gardens’ providing gathering spaces where students can meet and dine outside.
Status
Work In Progress
Client
Architect
Structural & Civil Engineer
Smith & Wallwork Engineers
M & E Engineers
Munro Building Services Ltd
Quantity Surveyor
3G Construction Consultants
Project Mangers
Mott Macdonald
Main Contractor
Morgan Sindall Construction
CGI
SLAB
Responses to Site
We wanted to celebrate the character of the adjacent wet woodland nature reserve, anchoring the development in its context and adding additional habitats to improve the overall biodiversity of the wider area.
The site once contained a manor house and gardens; the forgotten echoes of garden walls and thresholds inspired the idea of ‘secret gardens’ that are discovered through an understated garden gate within a hedge.
Enhancing Habitats
Water is the central theme for this landscape. Our design collects surface and roof water run-off into water troughs which spill over into rain gardens. These in turn flow into swales which feed the damp meadow adjacent to the wet woodland of the nature reserve.
‘Log alcoves’ have been designed into the landscape sitting-walls, into which logs from tree maintenance can be stacked to provide integrated habitat for decomposers, invertebrates, and small mammals. Over time they will break down and be carefully replenished, linking ongoing site management with the ecology strategy. Green roofs have been integrated into the proposals, with biodiverse roofs on the bike shelters and meadow roofs on the new buildings.
Creating Places to Live
As the terraces will be home to post-graduate students for 7 years, we wanted to create an intimate, homely environment. The south facing ‘secret gardens’ provide outdoor space for communal dining and herb growing, with immersive pools of naturalistic planting forming a gentle transition to the wilder landscape of the swales, damp meadow, and wet woodland beyond.
