Foundress Court, Pembroke College
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When Pembroke College, Cambridge, decided to build extra student rooms and other facilities, it enabled Eric Parry Architects to rework the entire south-east corner of the site, adding a new court and a replacement Master’s Lodge
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College court built in the grounds of Pembroke college site, close to the historic city centre of Cambridge
The court provides nearly 100 student rooms, a fellow’s set, computer centre, meeting rooms and new Master’s Lodge on a complex site between urban streets and its collegiate interior.
The two perpendicular wings of the building form the new boundaries to one of the college courts. At the northern end, the building forms a raised, cloistered garden; at the western end, the master’s lodge forms the end of the building.
At the intersection of the wings there is a main stair which rises up below the roof lantern. The lantern demarcates the new college entrance. To the street side, six new small courts of different character are formed between projecting pavilions.
The building is formed from in-situ concrete slabs supported on load bearing blockwork walls. The fabric of the building has been developed using some of the most innovative specialists and testing bodies to create a building with an anticipated life of over 200 years.
Data
- Completed: 1998
- Sectors: Education, Residential
- Total cost: £6.5M
- Address: Pembroke College, Cambridge, CB2 1QA, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Eric Parry Architects
- Project architects: Emma Huckett, Eric Parry, Philip Meadowcroft, Stephen Witherford
- Client: The Master, Fellows and Scholars of Pembroke College, Cambridge
- Quantity surveyor: Dearle & Henderson
- Main contractor: RG Carter
- Structural engineer: Arup
Suppliers
- Concrete testing: Contest Melbourne
- Copper roofing: Eastern Roofing
- Stonework: Drings of Bath
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