Hughes Hall Porters' Lodge

As Hughes Hall decided to respond to an underperforming reception condition to its grounds by expanding its porters’ team, including the newly appointed role of Head Porter, the need for a dedicated space that would consolidate all porterage related functions and spaces become evident and urgent. In response to these issues, Neubau’s proposal for the bespoke conversion of a shipping container was received extremely well from the onset by the college as well as the planning and conservation officers. The linearity of the structure has been utilised to separate the pedestrian and vehicular traffic flows. Its overall position was a strategic design decision aimed at creating a new landscaped entrance court out of a previously neglected and unused gravelled area squeezed between car parking spaces and a blank building elevation. The landscape design employed low impact, drop-in-place elements like large circular metal planters and heavy railway sleeper benches in order to deliver quickly and on budget a new sitting area amongst plants and small trees while defining and directing the pedestrian entrance route opposite of the lodge.