Dining Hall, Darwin College

College dining hall, designed 1965-1966 and built 1967-1969 to the designs of Bill Howell of Howell Killick Partridge and Amis, with Felix J Samuely and Partners as engineers.

MATERIALS: the roof has a lead covering, and the reinforced steel frame is faced in grey-brown brick and shuttered concrete.

PLAN: the dining hall is roughly octagonal on plan and raised over a ground-floor car park by four reinforced-concrete pilotis; a spiral stair projects from the east side.

EXTERIOR: the first-floor dining hall is raised by four reinforced-concrete pilotis over an open car park. The lead-covered roof is nearly pyramidal on plan with a central octagonal-pyramid glazed lantern. Oversailing eaves have horizontal bands of shuttered concrete to their fascia and joists which project through a glazed clerestory. The walls of the hall are constructed of grey-brown brick with greenish mortar to cool the overall tone of the brickwork, and have bands of shuttered concrete under the clerestory and to the plinth. The west elevation to Newnham Road is blind with the exception of two full-height vertical slit windows to each of the chamfered corners. The east elevation overlooking the garden has a large glazed opening comprising metal-framed folding and sliding French doors, a shuttered concrete lintel, and a large rectangular overlight. Again, the chamfered corners have two full-height vertical slit windows. A canted stair landing and wide spiral stair with a terrazzo covering and plain metal handrail on slender stick balusters, descends to the ground-floor car park below. The south elevation of the dining hall has a glazed link, approximately 1.5m wide, to the first floor of Newnham Terrace to the south. Within the undercroft, the underside of the hall and the pilotis are concrete shuttered.

INTERIOR: The interior of the Dining Hall is of unplastered brick, with a natural pine ceiling resting on reinforced concrete beams, from which timber beams splay upwards to a central octagonal lantern. Four strips of roof lighting illuminate the hall from above, while narrow slit windows on the chamfered corners provide glimpses of trees round the perimeter of the room. To the side of the slit windows, a window opening mechanism opens small clerestory windows above. Each chamfered corner has a concrete hood over a large mirror at eye height, which provide ‘a series of inter-reflections’ (HKPA). On the garden side, large folding and sliding doors give access to the stair landing and balcony overlooking the garden and river beyond. Access is provided from the Hermitage by a flat-arched opening on the north wall, with a shuttered-concrete lintel. There is an opposing opening on the south wall, formerly infilled with glass and now with a glazed link to Newnham Terrace to the south (realised around 2003).

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 14 September 2023 to correct a typo in the description