New Radcliffe House

A warm welcome

The first building to complete on the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter (ROQ) masterplan site integrates university office accommodation with three relocated GP surgeries.

We worked with the University of Oxford, the doctors’ practices and the Primary Care Trust for over five years, to secure central government funding for the health centre and to attract tenants for the upper floors.

The centre of the building has a huge circular lightwell that provides a calm internal space for patients waiting to see their doctors. On the upper floors the lightwell offers cross ventilation and daylight into an otherwise deep plan building.

The large and welcoming reception and waiting area is shared by all three surgeries. Its oval plan, super-size graphics and colour coding makes it easy to find the right surgery, and from there, the clean and crisp examination rooms.

Oona Culley was commissioned to create artworks for the building, as part of the University’s strategy to enrich the life and environment of the new quarter. The delicate network of tree branches seen on internal and external glazing and on interior walls echoes the structure of blood vessels and neurons within the body.