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THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Celebrating 50 Years
In our 50th anniversary year, it has been clearer
than ever that St Catherine’s is held together by
much more than Arne Jacobsen’s distinctive yellow
bricks. It is the sum of the talents and ambitions
of a flourishing community of Alumni, students,
parents, Fellows and friends. We were delighted
that that community was able to take part in a
year of celebrations held throughout 2012.
The programme reflected the global nature of
our community with events across the world. In
March, the Master hosted drinks receptions in
Hong Kong and Singapore, before travelling to
New York to host a dinner in the Harvard Club.
Reflecting the strength of our Danish connections,
the Danish Ambassador, Anne Steffensen, kindly
hosted our London Party at the Danish Embassy
in May. Warm weather allowed guests to spill
out onto the balcony of the Ambassador’s
Residence, which had been designed by Arne
Jacobsen, to enjoy exceptional views of a
summer evening across the capital.
In June, face-painters, jugglers and stilt-walkers
transformed the College for our inaugural Family
Day, with story-telling by alumna MG Harris (1984,
Biochemistry), and a captivating cryptic Treasure Hunt
devised by College Enigmatist Chris Maslanka (1973,
Physics).
London Party and Exhibition
photographs by Guy Bell
(www.gbphotos.com)
The Out of Architecture Exhibition
celebrated the inextricable relationships
between the College buildings and the furniture
that resides within them. First displayed in
Arup’s London offices and opened by the Danish
Ambassador, the Exhibition moved to Catz in
September where it was exhibited in the College
Library.
The architecture of St Catherine’s attracted
coverage from across the globe in our 50th
anniversary year. From Japan to Italy, Germany,
the Netherlands, France and Denmark, the
international design media have noted the
importance of our buildings and their contents as
masterpieces of 20th century design.
Germany’s A&W magazine praised Arne Jacobsen’s
union of the ‘seemingly irreconcilable’ in designing
a college which had both ‘preserved Oxford’s great
traditions’ without recourse to ‘grand architectural
gestures’. Denmark’s Rum magazine charted
Jacobsen’s ‘countless references to nature’ and praised
the College as a ‘place which feels warm and welcoming
fifty years on’, while Danish broadsheet, Jyllands-
Posten, interviewed Emeritus Fellow Barrie Juniper who
assisted Jacobsen in designing the College gardens. n
ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE 2012/29