Context

IOTA was commissioned to design, manufacture, supply and install a bespoke stone-clad planter for the entrance courtyard of the newly-opened Reuben College at Oxford University.

Project detail

The planter is 41 linear metres in length, and was manufactured from 3mm 1.4003-grade stainless steel, a material with significant merit for use in public realm, with a polyester powder coat (PPC) finish to RAL 8019 [Grey Brown]. It was supplied in 21 sections for on-site assembly.

The steel planter is clad with 356 individual sections of cladding and coping, cut and machined from Woodkirk Sandstone. The cladding was supplied grooved top and bottom, and the coping sections were supplied inset with resin anchors – all to interface with the fixing system designed by IOTA. The fixing system also maintains the specified requirement for easy accessibility, allowing for stone sections to be replaced in future (for example, if damaged due to vandalism). To create a perfect form, the stone sections are not facetted, but were precisely machined to match the radius of the planter.

IOTA was responsible for all elements of the manufacturing design, based on concept drawings by the architects Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (fjmt studio). The stone work was commissioned from Hardscape, and the principal contractors were Morgan Sindall Construction and Infrastructure Ltd.