Alison Brooks Architects’ 6000 m² Cohen Quad has expanded Exeter College’s 700 year old campus in the heart of Oxford, with undergraduate and graduate living accommodation for 90 students, an auditorium, seminar rooms, social learning spaces, archive, café, roof terraces, offices and fellows’ accommodation.

During March 2017, Exeter College formally opened Cohen Quad. Named for the parents of Exeter College alumnus Sir Ronald Cohen, this new quadrangle, transforms the College and allows it to provide 90 additional study-bedrooms for students, teaching and performance space, a reading room and climate controlled storage for the College’s special collections, and a hub for social learning.

Student rooms and fellows studies are enclosed by patterned stainless steel that folds across wall and roof surfaces, sitting on a stone clad ‘base’ that houses the quads’ public spaces.

The Rimex tiling in the checker-board pattern really highlights the stunning dormer windows and the beautiful curve of the tiles from the roof-line wrap around the roof and down the walls creating a seamless cloak around the building. 17,000 iridescent stainless steel shingles adorn this roof and the tiles are of a wonderful muted bronze and champagne colour with an unusual texture, catching, but not reflecting, the sunlight.

The roof construction was developed in close conjunction with Roles Broderick to facilitate a curved rain screen cladding with the waterproofing layer below. The entire roof build-up, from secondary steel supports to the finished Rimex Paladin Stainless Steel shingles, was installed by the Roles Broderick team.

The roofing envelope package also included anodised Aluminium dormer window cladding in an interlocking panel system with green and felt flat roof areas.

"We were given excellent technical and sales support from Fixfast. All Stainless Steel fixings and shingle clips were supplied in a timely and efficient manner. These factors contributed to Roles Broderick Roofng Ltd winning the NFRC Roofng Award for 2017." - Ben Clark, Operations Director