garden building, st. hilda's college, oxford 1967-1970.
architects: peter and alison smithson (1923-2003 & 1928-1993).
the smithsons arranged the plan of their garden building as a U-shape of student accomodation around a core of kitchens, service spaces, and stairs. all the student rooms face the park-like garden of st. hilda's college, effectively making a backside of the the building's fourth facade. later architects have treated it as one, but you can still see how the smithsons used proportion to add character. they also used a beautiful coalfired brick, as much a victorian reference as stirling's red tiles, but with very different connotations and a much more lively surface. we'll see these elements again in the economist building.
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the smithsons. 