I spent the morning touring Oxford’s new Stephen Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities which opened to the public a couple of days ago and is already surprisingly well inhabited, full of people making use of its generous ground-floor public space.

The building was designed and planned by Andrew Barnett of Hopkins Architects. 

From outside it is pretty reticent, as if it was a homage to Herbert Baker (ie gently classical, trying hard to sit comfortably in Oxford’s classical tradition).

From the south:-

From the north:-

And from the side which demonstrates the depth of the building from north to south:-

Inside is very different: comfortable and spacious, full of spaces to sit and work, including part of the Bodleian’s humanities collection and space for the Bates collection of musical instruments:-

In the basement is an amazing 500-seat concert hall:-