Fitzwilliam College, Central Hall Building

Fitzwilliam College, Central Hall Building

This dining hall, kitchens, and communal spaces building was designed by Denys Lasdun and constructed between 1960 and 1963. It stands centrally within the northern part of the college, attached to G staircase on its north side.

The building is constructed of blue-brown brick laid principally in Flemish bond, combined with in situ concrete. Roofs and the first-floor west elevation are covered in copper, whilst other roofs are covered in asphalt.

The plan is organised with the dining hall at its centre, kitchens to the north, and a screens passage to the south. Historically, fellows occupied the western parts of the ground floor, undergraduates the east, and research students the areas between. Since 1988, the Senior and Middle Combination Rooms have been relocated to the Grove, leaving the old Senior Combination Room space available for junior members and the research student room repurposed.

The outer elements of the building stand two storeys high and square in plan, walled in brick with a long horizontal band of glazing canted inwards at ground floor level. On the north side, a single-storey kitchen block is screened from Fellow's Court to the west by a cloister, and from Tree Court to the east by later fences. On the west side, a dramatic single-storey rhomboid-plan projection reaches towards L staircase. The old Senior Combination Room features a thrusting copper-clad concrete roof and large panes of single glazing originally intended to expose the fellowship to communal college view.

The first-floor east elevation is clad in copper. Eight windows sit within canted copper hoods, identifying the original location of the college library. The south elevation has an off-centre entrance at ground level, with four windows above at first floor in a later 20th-century addition; Lasdun's original design had a lower roof over the stair hall. The western parts of the first floor have extremely narrow slit windows.

Floating above the wide bulk of brickwork, set back from the outer edges, is a third storey: a flamboyant lantern hovering above the hall. On each side it has six arched panes of glass, which appear to bear the weight of the in situ concrete roof and pre-cast concrete frill of parabolic hoods around its edge. This lantern marks the highest point in the college.

The building can be entered from all four compass points, though it does not have a clear principal entrance. Hallways have wooden floors and panelling to dado height. At the centre of the plan is the dining hall, a cube-like space brightly lit by the lantern above. Seen from beneath, the roof forms a grid of square concrete ribs set on the diagonal. In the triangular spaces around the perimeter are smaller triangular light fittings. The weight of this massive ceiling rests on slender arches and single panes of glass. Beneath the lantern are structural bands of shuttered concrete separated by a wide, storey-height expanse of textured render. This band is broken on the east side by a first-floor gallery, sometimes used by the college choir. At ground level, walls are lined with matchboard panels and floors covered in wooden boards. A raised dais stands at the west end. Kitchens are accessed through a panelled screen to the north, and the screens passage on the south side is glazed.

Much of the original layout survives. The old Senior Combination Room retains a matchboard panel ceiling. Original joinery details survive including doors, fenestration, architraves and dado panels. A café and bar has been created in the south-east corner, combining two earlier rooms and levelling floors between them. The original bar has been removed from the eastern part of the plan. Original staircases survive but their oak handrails have been altered to accommodate an additional grip detail. The first-floor lecture room, known as the Gaskoin Room, includes an unusual set of built-in octagonal window seats against the slit-glazing on the eastern wall. The upper storey originally contained a library, music room, and lecture rooms; these are now used flexibly.