Excellence Hostel

Student housing at this density lives or dies on circulation, so the two accommodation blocks are pulled apart and the gap between them is given to the stair, the landings and cross-ventilation rather than to more beds. Every room gets an external wall and a balcony recess deep enough to keep the afternoon sun off the glass; every landing is open to the air, which is what stops the closed-corridor smell that blocks of this size develop within two years. The elevations are banded in terracotta and tan against white render so eight storeys of identical rooms still break down into readable pieces from the road, and the ground floor is left open for parking and bike racks.