The contractor is due to start on site at St Antony’s College this month to deliver the £11m Softbridge building, to be built between two listed buildings.
The new facility will have three storeys plus and a basement, housing a library and reading room, an auditorium, a café and archive storage rooms.
Hadid’s use of glass curtain walling and steel cladding is expected to make the building a new landmark within the city. FSC-approved timber will be used to boost the project’s sustainability credentials.
BAM said that it would work with suppliers that it previously used on the Ashmolean Museum project in the city.
Construction manager Anthony Nagle said: “We are delighted to be working with such universally respected architects as Zaha Hadid, and look forward to the challenge of making their stunning vision a reality. This project will provide first class learning facilities for the Middle East Centre at Oxford University while acting as a landmark befitting of the institution. We will ensure the scheme also benefits the local economy and environment.”
This will be BAM’s second experience of working with Zaha Hadid, having built her Riverside Transport Museum in Glasgow.
Below: St Anthony's College Middle East Centre
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