Located in Oxford’s medieval heart­land, the West­gate Centre is an impor­tant shop­ping loca­tion in this south­ern Eng­lish city famous for its pres­ti­gious uni­ver­sity. The shop­ping centre was designed and built between 1970 and 1972 and is today a pop­u­lar shop­ping and leisure loca­tion that, besides numer­ous restau­rants and cafés, also houses a cinema and a 9-hole crazy golf course. The new roof ter­race, with its view of the city, is lit using Lanova lumi­naires and con­sti­tutes a par­tic­u­lar high­light.

The West­gate Oxford was com­pre­hen­sively mod­ernised and expanded during 2016 and 2017 – a project planned by BDP archi­tects. The upgraded centre now covers a sur­face area of around 74,000 m², which has been set aside for shop­ping, restau­rants and leisure activ­i­ties. Oxford City Coun­cil invested around 500 mil­lion pounds in the project which, besides around 100 new shops, includes a cinema, new foot­paths, two squares and 59 new apart­ments as well as a bus route, taxi rank and carpark.

As part of the mod­erni­sa­tion and exten­sion, a ter­race with a bar and restau­rant has been added on the roof of the shop­ping centre that pro­vides a view of Oxford’s his­tor­i­cal sky­line. Design­ers at LDA have used the Lanova 250 LED lumi­naire for the light­ing solu­tion here, with lumi­naires sus­pended in two rows on a cable that con­nects the bar and the restau­rant, immers­ing the seat­ing areas in a pleas­ant and warm light as soon as dark­ness falls.

architect: BDP, Glenn Howells, Panter Hudspith, Allies and Morrison, Dixon Jones

landscape architect: Gillespies, LDA Design

photographer: Tom Niven, Amphitype