Design | The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities building project

This green space is in evidence in this artist’s impression of the north side of the building (facing the Radcliffe Observatory, which is part of Green Templeton College).

Here the building can be seen from the south – looking towards the Blavatnik School of Government. We have shown it at night because audiences will often emerge from this building in the evening after enjoying a world-class performance or lecture inside.

The internal design of the Schwarzman Centre can be seen in this virtual model which dissects the building. The building will be arranged around a central atrium called the ‘Great Hall’.

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It will include:

Four storeys above ground, with the building arranged around the Great Hall.
Two storeys below ground, with a double-height foyer around which our performance venues are arranged: the 500-seat concert hall, the Humanities theatre (and lecture theatre), the Black Box experimental performance space (and space for ‘research through performance’), and the rehearsal hall.

The ground floor will have a café, an exhibition hall and the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments – all open to the public. This floor will become a lively public space for the city of Oxford.
Upper floors will accommodate the main part of the library, faculty centres and institutes, and shared graduate study, teaching, meeting, and research space. This area is for staff and students.

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Look from another angle and you can see more detail of the performance spaces:

On the left is a double height Humanities theatre with up to 250 seats.
On the right is the 500-seat concert hall with a stage for orchestras of up to 60 musicians, a band pit for musical

theatre and semi-staged opera, and variable acoustics to support unamplified classical music and a wide range of amplified music. It can also host events like public lectures.