Client Profile
After five years of collaboration, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities has opened its doors to staff, students, and the public. Hewshott provided specialist audiovisual and IT consultancy for this landmark project, the University’s most ambitious development to date, helping to create a connected, flexible, and future-ready environment for teaching, research, and cultural engagement.
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities represents a landmark addition to the University of Oxford’s estate; an ambitious and forward-thinking development, containing almost one hundred AV enabled spaces, that brings together seven humanities faculties, the new Institute for Ethics in AI, and a range of performance, film, exhibition, and social spaces designed to foster collaboration and creativity. The building provides a vibrant new home for research, teaching, and public engagement in the heart of Oxford.
The Challenge
The University’s vision was to create a building that could serve multiple academic and cultural functions, accommodating both traditional learning environments and contemporary digital experiences. The project required careful coordination of technology across a wide range of space types, from flexible seminar and teaching rooms to exhibition and collaboration areas, each with unique acoustic, technical, and user requirements.
A key challenge lay in integrating advanced audiovisual and IT infrastructure within an architecturally ambitious building that also incorporates specialist performance spaces which can also be used for teaching.
Systems had to be designed for long-term adaptability, allowing future expansion and upgrades while maintaining visual and functional harmony across the entire facility.
A key functional aspiration from the start is that AV within this building should operate on a ‘wireless first’ model to support the removal of lecterns and provide totally flexibility within spaces.
Our Role
Hewshott was engaged as the specialist audiovisual and IT consultant, providing strategic and technical leadership through all stages of the project from briefing and concept design through to procurement, construction, and commissioning.
Working closely with the University, the wider design team, and key delivery partners, Hewshott’s scope included:
- Full design of audiovisual and IT systems for teaching, seminar, collaboration, and exhibition spaces.
- Development of technology standards to ensure consistency and interoperability across the humanities faculties based around a ‘wireless first’ aspiration.
- Coordination of infrastructure with architecture, acoustics, and MEP services
- Technical support through tendering, installation, and commissioning phases
Key Achievements
- Integrated AV + IT design: A unified network and control architecture ensures a consistent and scalable experience across all academic and shared spaces.
- User-centred operation: Simple, reliable, and intuitive interfaces empower academic users to focus on teaching, collaboration, and creativity.
- Collaborative design and delivery: Strong alignment between Hewshott, the University team, and the wider consultant and contractor groups enabled the early resolution of technical and spatial challenges.
- Futureproof infrastructure: Designed to accommodate emerging technologies, new pedagogies, and evolving methods of teaching and engagement.
Outcomes
As the building comes to life, the Schwarzman Centre stands as a benchmark for technology-enabled learning and collaboration in higher education. Early feedback from users has highlighted the clarity, reliability, and ease of use of the systems, as well as the consistent user experience achieved across diverse environments.
For Hewshott, this project embodies the company’s core philosophy, that technology design should enhance, not dictate, the user experience, while showcasing what can be achieved through genuine collaboration between client, consultant, and delivery partners.
“This project represents the very best of collaboration; between the University, the wider design and construction teams, and our own consultants at Hewshott. Projects of this scale and ambition succeed because of the people behind them, and I’m incredibly proud of our team for their dedication, creativity, and technical excellence throughout this five-year journey.” – Daniel Lee, Hewshott.
Collaboration and Acknowledgements
Hewshott is proud to have worked alongside an exceptional project team, including the University of Oxford, Laing O’Rourke, AKT II, Max Fordham LLP, Charcoalblue, Arup, Etude, Fire Ingenuity, Gillespies, CPC Project Services, Arcadis, Purcell, Crown House Technologies, Expanded Piling, Vetter UK, Britplas, Severfield, Novum, James Johnson & Co Ltd, WJL, Quest Joinery, GVAV Ltd, Stage Electrics and the Passive House Institute (certifiers of Passive House).