Eagle Eye Magazine Issue 1 2023

At the end of Trinity Term 2023, we opened the doors to a new Lodge, which is the greatest
change to the College’s frontage in modern times. Above all, the new Lodge provides level access
to the Front Quad from the High Street for the first time.
We asked our architects for the new Lodge, Burd Haward, to talk us through the project.
From where did you take inspiration for the overall design of
the new Lodge?
Designs were developed following an initial design competition
in 2014 for a new Porters’ Lodge. Our aim was to create an
improved sense of arrival at the College by expanding the entrance
‘threshold’ and improving accessibility for all, while at the same
time making a new functional space for the porters.
The previous Lodge – a narrow, free-standing glass and timber
structure dating from the 1960s – occupied half the width of the
south loggia and protruded awkwardly into the entrance gateway.
We carried out detailed studies of the existing lodge functions
and associated social interactions at the entrance and explored
the architectural significance and qualities of the loggia and
the surrounding spaces. This provided the basis for us to think
creatively about potential new locations for the Lodge.
Locating the new Lodge at the south-west corner of Front Quad,
within the former Domestic Bursar’s office, offered a good
relationship with both the existing entrance route, other College
offices, and, significantly, gave an opportunity to connect into
Beer Cellar Yard. By lowering the floor level in this corner room
and adding a small lift in the Beer Cellar Yard, wheelchair access
could be provided from the High Street into the new Lodge and
through into Front Quad.
The design of the new Lodge is rooted in its context. The new
opening formed between the Lodge and Front Quad has been
detailed to respond to the profile of the existing stonework
and pilasters. Internally, the arrangement gives porters direct
line of sight to the main entrance, and the plethora of keys and
equipment of a modern-day lodge are discretely housed in new
built-in joinery. The fluted oak detail to the desk and partition
echoes the curved form of the stone aedicules on the High Street
elevation and the vaulted ceilings in Front Quad. The material
palette of stone, dark oak flooring, light oak joinery, and dark
metalwork follows that used elsewhere around College.
The patterning of the new metal gates at the High Street entrance
to the Beer Cellar Yard is taken from the distinctive vermicular
rusticated carving of the Doric columns located either side of the
main College entrance. This pattern was traced and abstracted
to create a laser-cut profile. By referencing the existing entrance
detail, the design is rooted in history, but its materiality marks it
as clearly of its time. Its semi-transparent nature retains a visual
separation between the shopfronts to the west and the classical
plinth of the College quad to the east.
What were the challenges of creating something new within
our site?
Much of the building fabric at Queen’s is Grade 1 listed, which
meant it was complex to initiate change. Great care was taken to
minimise damage to the historic fabric through careful detailing.
Removal of sensitive historic fabric as a result of forming the new
opening into the lodge was justified both by improvements to the
Photo: David Fisher
“By referencing the existing entrance detail,
the design is rooted in history, but its
materiality marks it as clearly of its time
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