Cadets' residence (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson), linked walkway and refectory block (Moyana), at the Warsash Maritime Academy, Warsash, Hampshire

Summary

A former cadets' residence (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson), linked walkway, and refectory block (Moyana), of 1959-1961, by Sheppard, Robson and Partners.

Description

A former cadets' residence (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson), linked walkway, and refectory block (Moyana), of 1959-61, by Sheppard, Robson and Partners.

Cadets' residence (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson)

MATERIALS: concrete floors, load-bearing brick cross-walls, slate cills and Crowborough stock brick elevations in monk bond. The windows are metal-framed, and the balconies and walkways have metal railings and hardwood timber detailing.

PLAN: the building is rectangular and of five storeys, including a basement. It is built into a slope that falls away to the west, where the principal elevation faces on to Southampton Water. The eastern elevation faces the former parade ground and has three sets of access steps at ground floor level, to the three individual units (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson). Each has a former self-contained officers flat on the ground floor, and a staircase on the eastern side, which served the cadet rooms at basement (C-Deck), first floor (B-Deck), second floor (A-Deck), and the fourth-floor (bridge level), where there are observation balconies to the north, south and west. All floors (except the ground floor) are linked by spine corridors. The original communal bathrooms are located on the east side.

EXTERIOR: the principal, west-facing elevation is brick-faced, and has regular black-framed fenestration with slate cills, spanning bays arranged as 1:3:2:3:2:3:1. The emphasis of the windows alternates between vertical and horizontal across each section of bays. At first-floor level, the three-bay sections have a cantilevered, glazed-balcony. On the fourth floor, the sections with one and two bays have an open balcony with plain, metal railings and horizontal timber boards. The top of the building has a plain, timber-clad cornice, and a flat roof. The northern and southern elevations are mainly blind, bar a covered balcony to the fourth floor. The northern elevation has a set of concrete steps with metal rails, supported by timber boards, which rise from lower ground to the north-west, and wrap around the northern elevation, rising to join the ground floor level on the eastern elevation. The southern elevation at ground floor level, has a stone dedication plaque, and a circular, RIBA architecture medal.

The top three storeys of the eastern elevation are similar in character to the western, but the bays are arranged as 1:4:2:4:2:4:1, again, with alternating, black-framed horizontal and vertical fenestration. The ground floor is recessed and faced in white, glazed-tiles, and has an open walkway which runs from the northern end to the linked walkway. It has white-painted, metal rails and horizontal timber boards. There are three pairs of glazed entrance doors, each of which is set within a glazed, timber architrave, under a stone plaque, bearing the name of the house (Hudson, Shackleton or Wilson). The basement below, opens on to a light well, which is faced in cogged bricks.

INTERIOR: the officer flats (formerly consisting of a living room, kitchen, study and three-bedrooms) and cadet rooms (originally laid out as either six, two, or one-person rooms), have been converted to functional student accommodation, including the addition of partition walls* and en-suite bathrooms*. There are later-C20 suspended ceilings* throughout, and late-C20 lino to all floors, except the fourth floor which retains its parquet flooring. The dog-leg staircases have open, concrete treads, and functional metal handrails, supported by timber boards.

Linked walkway and Refectory (Moyana)

MATERIALS: the linked walkway has metal posts and railings, with horizontal timber detailing. The chimney is concrete. The refectory has a steel frame for the dining halls and a timber frame for the common rooms which rests on teak window frames. The wider building is clad in Crowborough stock-brick in monk bond, and has slate hanging to the west. It rests on a concrete sub-structure and semi-basement.

PLAN: the walkway is flat-roofed, broad and largely open to the sides, where there are metal railings, with horizontal timber boards. To the north side, there is an oval-shaped, concrete boiler house chimney, of shuttered construction. It rises through the floor of the walkway, pierces the flat roof and reaches a height of around 20m. There is also a set of concrete steps to the north side, which descend from the walkway to the refectory service area and plant rooms.

The refectory building is rectangular in plan, and primarily single-storey. The principal elevation faces west on to Southampton Water, and the main entrances are on the eastern elevation, the principal of which is underneath the linked walkway. The gentle fall of the land to the west allows space for storage and service facilities to the north end, and a radar room to the south end. On the main floor, the staff common room is at the north end with an adjacent, cadets' ante-room, which was designed to also be used as a stage or platform to the cadets' dining hall. A later-C20 glazed timber wall and door*, now separates this from the former cadets' dining hall (now a refectory). At the south end of the refectory, there are folding doors, which provide separation from the former senior cadets' dining hall. Both halls are served by a kitchen with late-C20 fit-out, and offices on the east side, and have large sliding, glass doors to the west side. The senior cadets' common room occupies the southern end of the building, where there is also a separate entrance to the east.

EXTERIOR: the principal, western elevation is dominated by the slate-covered, shallow, counter-pitched roofs, of which there are three in line. The slate cover wraps around the upper part of the vertical face of the elevation. At the northern end there is a low, wide and cantilevered section with regular metal-framed windows in teak surrounds, under a flat roof. At the southern end, there is a similar, but smaller scale structure, and each has a set of metal stairs which lead down to a patio area*. In between, there are low, and horizontally-orientated, teak-framed patio doors, along with smaller teak-framed windows, all of which face west on to Southampton Water. There are also three pairs of late-C20 fire doors*. Where the land falls away to the west, the area below is faced in Crowborough stock-brick.

The eastern elevation is long, low, and formed of a single storey with flat roof, however the shallow-pitched roofs of the halls are visible beyond. At the northern and southern ends, the entrances are characterised by regular, full-height glazing in teak architraves. The entrances have a pair of teak-framed glazed doors, which stand under the linked walkway to the north end, and under a plain, open porch, to the south end. The elevation in between, is faced in Crowborough brick in monk bond, and has nine regularly-spaced, single-pane, metal windows.

The northern elevation is dominated by a low, wide and cantilevered section with regular metal framed windows in teak surrounds, under a flat roof. The sub-basement has a service entrance, and to the east, there is a concrete stair with metal rails and timber-boarding, which rises to the linked walkway. At ground-floor level, the southern elevation has full-height glazing, primarily in teak architraves, apart from the western element (former logia) which has been in-filled with uPVC windows. The sub-basement (radar room) is faced in Crowborough brick, has central, glazed-entrance doors, and full-height glazing in teak architraves.

INTERIOR: Moyana comprises a line of common rooms and dining facilities, which have full-height folding, and sliding doors, supported by triangular timber frames, with inset glazing. On the west side, there are large, teak-framed, sliding patio doors and throughout, the windows and doors are predominantly constructed of teak. The main ceiling has a broad central strip of acoustic timber-slats, which retain their concealed top lighting. To the side, there is a continuous strip of louvered roof lights. The main entrance hall is lined with polished timber boarding, and there is an image of a compass inlaid into the linoleum flooring.

* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest. However any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require LBC and this is a matter for the LPA to determine.

History

The Warsash Maritime Academy has its origins in the Gilchrist Navigation School, which was founded at Southampton in 1909. Southampton University College took over the school in 1932 and in 1935 it was renamed the Southampton School of Navigation, moving to larger premises at South Stoneham House, Swaythling, in 1939. The university transferred the school to the Southampton Education Committee, and thence to the Hampshire Education Committee, in 1974. In 1984 it was merged with the Southampton College of Higher Education to form the Southampton Institute of Higher Education (from 2005, Southampton Solent University).

The academy was built on a fragment of the Hook Park Estate at the mouth of the River Hamble, which had been developed as a coastguard station in 1880-1881. In 1911, it and the surrounding land was sold to Sir Warden Chilcott MP, who built Salterns House alongside. He sought the closure of the station, but with the outbreak of First World War in 1914, it was transformed into a base for the Royal Naval Air Service, as it was again in the Second World War when it was used for training crews in landing their boats ahead of D-Day. The School of Navigation secured a 99-year lease in 1946. Southampton University College was raised to full university status in 1952 and began to refurbish its building stock, although it did not secure the freehold of the site until 1965. The coastguard station was demolished in 1957, but the Navy’s accommodation block survives as offices.

In 1955 Southampton University prepared a comprehensive development plan, which was approved by the Ministry of Education in April 1956, to provide accommodation (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson) for 135 cadets and three supervising officers, along with study bedrooms for 69 student officers (Gilchrist) and dining halls, common rooms and kitchens for the entire college (Moyana). These three buildings were erected in 1959-1961, and an additional residential block, assembly hall and teaching block followed in 1963-1966. The refectory block, Moyana, is named after the college’s first training vessel, which won the inaugural international sail training ship race from Torbay to Lisbon in 1956 but founded on its return journey. Moyana is linked to the five-storey residential block, (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson), by an open, covered walkway of steel and hardwood, which was designed as an exercise area in wet weather, and which follows the lines of the main building. The cadets' residence (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson) was originally arranged for groups of 45 cadets in ‘cabins’ or shared rooms set around three staircases, each supervised by an officer who had a flat on the entrance level. The top (fourth) floor had common rooms, a library and balconies that served as a ‘bridge’ for observing shipping movements. On the eastern side there were storage cupboards for the cadet's oilskins.

At some time between 1999 and 2012, a glazed screen and doorway was installed inside the Moyana building, which divides the former cadet's ante-room and cadet's dining hall (now remodelled as a modern refectory). The loggia to the south end, off the senior student's common room has been enclosed with uPVC glazing, and three pairs of fire-exit doors have been added to the western side of the building. Partition walls and en-suite bathrooms have been added to the cadets' residence (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson) along with late-C20 fixtures and fittings, and the Gilchrist building has been demolished.

The original phase of development (1959-61), won a RIBA Bronze Medal for the best buildings completed in its Southern Region. The architect, Richard Sheppard (1910-82), was born in Bristol and studied architecture at the Royal West of England School and the Architectural Association. Qualifying in 1934, he was among the first generation to come under the influence of modernism, and in 1973 described being ‘brought up on Highpoint I and II, the Penguin Pool, Gropius and the early Corb magic’ (Building Design, 2 March 1973, p.6).

Sheppard formed a practice in 1936 with his architect wife Jean Shufflebotham (1911-74). After the Second World War they built up a solid reputation with the design of education buildings, progressing from primary schools to secondaries and thence to higher education buildings. In 1958, he brought his former student Geoffrey Robson (1918-91) into the partnership, a move that coincided with the firm’s golden age. A relatively large practice by the standards of the late 1950s, much of the work was designed by senior assistants (A J Middleton and N L Willson), within an overall genre that gave emphasis to in-situ concrete and good brickwork.

The practice came to attention when in 1953, it was commissioned to design halls of residence for Imperial College (National Heritage List for England reference 1263062, listed at Grade II), of which six were built in Prince’s Gardens between 1957 and 1968. The practice also designed a teacher-training college at Walsall, which was completed in 1963, but is no longer extant. In this sequence of higher education buildings, the firm evolved an affordable method of providing student accommodation with staircase access, generally preferred to long corridors as more sociable and less institutional, but almost impossible to achieve outside of the Oxbridge colleges, because of its cost. The resulting plans were tight and complex. Richard Sheppard, Robson and Partners were declared the best English practice but were passed over for the design of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, in favour of Arne Jacobsen. However, in 1958 they were one of twenty firms invited to submit designs for Churchill College, Cambridge (including NHLE reference 1227706, listed at Grade II), where the brief was for a modern building that would last for over 400 years and stand alongside the architecture of the past. One of the most prestigious competition of the post-war era, it brought a new status to modern university building and in 1959 Richard Sheppard, Robson and Partners were declared the winners. The practice also designed Worcester Technical College (unlisted), completed in phases between 1962 and 1972, and the lecture theatre block at Brunel University of 1965-7 (NHLE reference 1400162, listed at Grade II).

Reasons for Listing

The former cadets' residence (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson), linked walkway, and refectory block (Moyana), of 1959-1961, by Sheppard, Robson and Partners, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a rare, well-preserved and good example of the work of Sheppard, Robson and partners, a leading specialist in education buildings in the post-war period;
* for the exteriors, which are carefully finished and good examples of well-made mid-C20 modernism that balance the influences of Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto in their contrast of sturdy concrete construction, with fine brick and timber detailing;
* Moyana has a substantially intact interior, including fine slatted timber ceilings, folding screen and timber-lined main entrance, which includes a decorative compass inlaid to the floor;
* the cadets' residence (Hudson, Shackleton and Wilson) has a broadly legible plan, which illustrates how three separate (but linked) cadet houses were designed with an officers flat, and observation balconies for observing shipping movements;
* as a rare example of a good quality building designed for non-degree subjects, made possible through a connection with Southampton University.

External Links

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