A new city block on a greenfield site for Cambridge University postgraduates and their families.

North West Cambridge is a new city extension for Cambridge University's postgraduate community, providing 3,000 homes on previously agricultural fields to the northwest of the city. Collaborating with Cottrell & Vermeulen Architects and Sarah Wigglesworth Architects we were appointed by the University, to develop 70 new homes around communal courtyards for postgraduates and their families.

The three practices collaborated fluidly, combining diverse skills and experiences to create a piece of new city with a coherent, heterogenous identity.

The apartment blocks define the south end of the lot, distinct figures gathered around the village green and its mature oak tree that imbues the new development with an instant maturity.

A family of three self-similar terraces create a generous street edge, accommodating the varied needs of diverse residents.

The collectively developed masterplan actively seeks to provide spaces that nurture neighbourliness. Generous stair wells, public window seats and communal courtyards combine with private gardens, doorways and drives to provide opportunities for the block's community to live together well, both together and apart.

International Design competition. First prize. Construction tender completed.