Acoustic Orchestra Shell - After © David Fisher

Garden Quadrangle, St. John’s College Oxford Oxford, United Kingdom

Modernised hall shortlisted for a 2018 AJ Retrofit Award

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Garden Quadrangle, St. John’s College Oxford

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Acoustic Orchestra Shell - After © David Fisher

Originally designed by renowned architect Richard MacCormac of MacCormac Jamieson Pritchard and constructed in 1993, the Garden Quad Auditorium provided St John’s College, Oxford with a self-contained space for lectures, performances and events. While appreciative of the building’s award-winning heritage and listed status, the College was determined to revitalise and modernise the theatre for additional and more comfortable seating (including better sightlines), wheelchair accessibility to both the hall and the stage, a reduction of building services noise, and improved acoustics overall.

SSV collaborated with architect Alan Berman and Berman Geddes Stretton Architects to create a refurbished Garden Quad Auditorium. It can now play a new, more dynamic role as St John’s College’s cultural and entertainment hub for its students, faculty and the surrounding community.

St John’s College’s Garden Quad Auditorium was shortlisted for a 2018 AJ Retrofit Award.

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St. John’s College – 01

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A lot of the credit for the auditorium’s success goes to Sound Space Vision – we could never have visualised how great this hall could be without your help.

Ian Stokes, Master of Works

St. John’s College

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St. John’s College – 02

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The formality and nature of McCormack’s architectural concept – impressive arches, heavyweight rustication, and shallow dome in the auditorium – continues to be highlighted because it is the auditorium’s distinctive power and muscularity that makes possible alterations without diminishing its impressiveness or grand character.

Alan Berman

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St. John’s College – 03

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The success of this beautiful hall reflects our very measured approach to balancing alterations and integrating them with the existing heritage architecture to create a space that has elegance, comfort and exceptional function and sound.

Anne Minors

Sound Space Vision

© David Fisher
Front View - Before ©P.Cook
SSV Front View - Vision
Front View - After © David Fisher
Side View - Before ©P.Cook
SSV Side View - Vision
Side View - After © David Fisher
Acoustic Treatment of the Balcony Fronts © David Fisher
SSV Acoustic Corrections - Vision
© David Fisher
Control Desk © David Fisher
SSV Seating layout - without stage extension
SSV Section and sight lines study - without stage extension
Conference Mode © David Fisher
SSV Acoustic Orchestra Shell - Vision
Acoustic Orchestra Shell - After © David Fisher
Seating and Ventilation Grilles Detail © David Fisher
Stage Extension Mechanism © David Fisher
Side Balcony and Wheelchair Box © David Fisher
Conservation of the Glazed Wall © David Fisher
Acoustic Chandelier © David Fisher

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