Homerton College

Homerton College is one of Cambridge's largest and fastest-growing colleges, and by 2017 it had simply outgrown its existing facilities. The college needed a proper dining hall, somewhere that could handle the everyday rhythm of student meals but also rise to the occasion for formal dinners and events. 

When Feilden Fowles won the international design competition, they had a clear ambition: a building that felt at home in one of Cambridge's most architecturally layered college grounds, without simply mimicking what was already there. Their answer was an undulating façade of handcrafted green faience, a material with deep Victorian roots, reinterpreted for a contemporary building.

We worked closely with Feilden Fowles through an extended development process, testing and refining bespoke glazes until they found the right relationship with the college's red brick, sandstone, and the oxidised copper of the Great Hall's flèche. The result is 3,200 faience tiles that taper as they rise up the façade, drawing the eye upward to reveal clerestory glazing above, a detail that glows after dark. The relief pattern echoes the Gothic Revival character of the buildings alongside it, while feeling unmistakably of its own time.

Feilden Fowles described it as an Arts and Crafts for the 21st century, using parametric modelling and contemporary construction methods in service of genuine handcraft. We think that's a pretty good description of what we do too.

The dining hall was completed in 2022, installed by Szerelmey, and has since won a RIBA National Award, a Civic Trust Award, and a Gold Award at the Wood Awards.