ABSTRACT
The construction of Herzog & de Meuron's commission for the University of Oxford's young School of Government was, therefore, always going to court headlines. And in its abstract facade of stacked circular drums of varying sizes, the Blavatnik School of Government certainly makes for a defiantly contemporary newcomer to the surrounding cityscape of honey-coloured neo-classicism. Meanwhile, the orthogonal first floor echoes the elevation of the Oxford University Press building opposite, of which the School's occupants have a fine vista thanks to a first-floor window at 10.5 by 3.2 metres. There is no doubt that Emerson Los Angeles is a self-conscious piece of architecture, advertising the College's presence in the city and Morphosis's derring-do. Calatrava was handed a blank slate to plan the campus and design its focal point, the Innovation, Science and Technology Building. The Innovation Science and Technology Building rises like a bird in flight from the flat landscape, its white wings gleaming.
