Headington Hill Hall

Headington Hill Hall

About the Hall

It was built in 1824 and belonged to the Morrell Family for many years. The Hall has been leased to Oxford Brookes University since 1992 and is now primarily used as the Oxford Brookes School for Law (see left picture)









First Impressions

(From right to left) Nik, Aiysha and I. Posing in front of the front door.

Standing in front of this magnificent building, one feels overwhelmed by the extraordinary beauty that is in front of them, I know I sure did! From the manicured grass to the stained window in the interior, this building is one of grace and has a vintage feel to it. I absolutely adore the Victorian Era, the building reminded me of

Exploring the Interior

The Interior: Note the stained glass and the high ceiling with the chandelier.
Breathtaking!

Exploring the interior was exciting! The beauty of it had all of us stunned, especially the gorgeous stained glass window (fun fact: stained glass windows were only found in important buildings such as churches and significant buildings) We visited both floors in this building, and it was incredibly interesting how well it has been maintained. 

The Gardens

The gardens were probably the most exciting aspect about this area. I truly did not feel as if I was in a University but instead I felt as if i has been transported back in time. What made me feel like this? The manicured grass, the way you could shut your eyes and hear the melodic tune of tweeting birds, the outdoor furniture is incredibly pretty, the mixture of wood and wrought iron really made this garden pop.

Overall Experience

Exploring Headington Hill Hall with a bunch of friends made the overall experience that much better. It is exciting to walk around the place, debate how it came it be, how the people of that era managed to make something as exquisite as this and of course, having a great time taking pictures of everything. It was unimaginable that such a place existed in our University!

I'll be back soon with another new visit.
Watch this space!
Jaymi

Oxford Brookes University - The Abercrombie Building (Space to Think)

First Impressions

Walking into the Abercrombie Building, all I could think was, “Wow!”
The structure is amazing, it’s incredibly contemporary and very innovative; i’m yet to come across another building of this nature.  The lines are sleek, clean and not to mention the random pops of colour that make the interior stand out. Look at the pictures below and you’ll see just what I mean!  

Standing on an upper level of the Abercrombie  Building. You can see the beautiful bridges behind me.

The look of the interior of the building, the tall atrium is very alluring.
Note the pops of colour from the green, red and purple bridges. Stunning!

A group of 9 of us decided to explore this new building, we were all in awe of this place! Thank you Oxford Brookes for giving us such a great "Space to Think!" (pun intended).

Posing for Pictures in the Atrium, what a great way to explore new areas!

Environmental Aspects of the Building

After looking around and doing a little bit of research, I have come to a conclusion that this building is incredibly environmentally friendly. The materials which have been used (such as: wood, glass, metal and stone) have ecological beneficial properties as well as being great reflectors of sound. For example, if a lecture is taking place, the acoustics of the building drown out the sounds, so the students can concentrate. (WOW). Now here's the interesting part, it doesn't really drown out any sounds, I could actually hear what was happening on the ground floor whilst standing on the third floor. Intriguing?

The Art Within the Glass Box

I even spotted some spectacular artworks in The Glass Box (a room found on the ground floor).

Featuring here are just two artworks of many to be found in this room.
Upon further inspection, the materials used in these pieces are all recyclable and in some ways.
Again: WOW.

Overall Experience

I would never have thought to explore a building before. I always thought exploration was reserved for jungles, swamps and other areas of a similar nature. This experience however, led me down a new and exciting path which I thoroughly enjoyed! I'd recommend exploring the Abercrombie Building to everyone, it has many surprises in store for it's visitors.

That's all for now!
I'll be back soon with yet another visit to share about.
Jaymi.

Sources

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI-yjrqYkOc