Now in its third year, the Ted Happold Prize gives final year engineering and architecture students at the University of Bath an opportunity to work within an interdisciplinary team to produce an innovated design. It celebrates all of the talent and skill demonstrated by the fourth year undergraduates, giving them an opportunity to put all of their knowledge into a special design project and present their ideas to a panel of experts.
This year the brief was to design a new college building for Oxford University on a site in the centre of the city, at the heart of the University. The building was for a group which is currently underrepresented within the University community, and was to comprise a series of bedrooms, dining and meeting spaces.
The brief focussed on the need for a design with ambitious sustainability goals, in terms of design, construction and operations. The students needed to keep energy targets and environmentally responsible design at the heart of their projects.
The teams had eight weeks to complete a full architectural and engineering design. Once completed, they presented their work to a panel of experts who through a series of reviews, judged a short list of five designs to select their top three.
Winner – Group 12: The City and the City
Team design overview
Group 12’s winning design
Oxford has two divided populations coexisting without acknowledging each other’s presence. This is true in the sense of the town and the ‘gown’. But also in the sense of the massive socioeconomic disparity which the university perpetuates. The scheme has potential to draw in Oxford residents from less affluent areas, with good links to active travel methods such as bus routes, trains and cycling. With the housing crisis, people are being pushed away from the centre of Oxford – so enabling such links, on top of making every room suitable to be used as social housing, will help draw visitors from a great range of socioeconomic backgrounds.
Judges’ comments
Judges liked the concept of breaking down the “town and gown” divide. Excellent collaboration where everyone on the team learnt from each other.
Runner up – Group 7: Andragogy
Team design overview
Group 7’s design
The future of The University lies in the evolution and continuous improvement and adaptation of its culture to ensure the greatest possible learning environment for the brightest minds in the world. Everybody learns differently, engages differently, responds to stimuli differently and we wanted to celebrate the strength of neurodiversity. We wanted to design a College where the students can take a leading role in how they are taught and how they can adapt their environment to suit their preferences. One in seven people are estimated to be neurodivergent in the UK and our College will act as a leading light for the development and improvement of teaching and learning for neurodiversity.
Judges’ comments
Judges thought that the team created a good user-centred approach to their design across the whole of the site using adaptable themes throughout.
Commended – Group 4: Realms
Team design overview
Group 4’s design
With such historic teaching methods embodied within Oxford college tradition, we want to address the reality of future learning methods in an increasingly interconnecting world. Remote learning has been a prevailing form of teaching over the past three years, due to the COVID pandemic. In parallel to this, the number of students who have scope for requiring virtual learning is increasing in the University of Oxford, as demonstrated in the data presented. We want to bridge the gap in the learner experience between in-person and virtual teaching, creating equality and flexibility for students of our college, and in turn set an example for institutions worldwide.
Judges’ comments
Judges liked the team’s forward thinking approach to the design and the generosity of green space for the city.
“The TED project was an amazing opportunity, and I learned a lot about holistic design by working with the architects and engineers as a team. We achieved our goal of producing a kit of parts design with a strong environmental focus, whilst also remembering our neurodiverse target group throughout.”
Team student