St Catherine's, Oxford: in 1964 Reyner Banham called it the best motel in Oxford. With 130 new bedrooms, and slightly wider beds, it is time to check in to St Catherine's north quad.

With twenty-five years of post-war expansion the University of Oxford doubled in size. St Catherine's was a new college, and from the outset Founding Master Alan Bullock was clear that it would have to contribute something distinctive to the architecture of its time. On the remote Holywell Great Meadow site, innovation and experimentation led the way, presenting a unique opportunity in the University's recent history. A special sub-committee was established to consider a number of exemplary buildings, and the search began and ended in Denmark. Following a field trip in 1958, the committee considered the work of Kay Fisker, Preben Hansen, Arne Jacobsen, Jorn Utzon and C. F. Moller, and were unanimous in their decision to offer the job to Jacobsen.

Jacobsen was immediately invited to visit Oxford, and five years later the college opened. Today, forty years on, the work still endures, standing with sublime presence. As a legacy to Jacobsen's creative genius and to the vision of the College, St Catherine's College sustains a unique character, and remains one of the UK's greatest post-war buildings. Unswervingly modern, yet consistent to the collegiate type, study bedrooms and shared facilities are organised around staircases, with the Jacobsen scheme comprising staircases 1-16. In 1994 three more stairs were added by Stephen Hodder, and here we focus on Hodder's second phase: a further seven staircases and a new porters' lodge.

The appointment of Hodder and details of his strategic masterplan have already been discussed in an earlier study (AR February 2004), however, the creation of the college's new quad deserves closer attention, seen here in its completed form.

Originally planned by Jacobsen to be approached from the west, the arrival sequence was never fully resolved. The house that was to be demolished to open up the axial route remains intact today, and as such the college has had to make do with a number of interim solutions. Holscher's tutorial pavilions at the north-west corner went some way to define the riverside route that turned guests on axis with the original lodge; but this arrival sequence always felt somewhat contorted. Later alterations by Philip Dowson introduced visitors to the celebrated view of the long lawn; but visitors still had to double back to align themselves with Jacobsen's ceremonial route across the bridge. Today, however, with a new porter's lodge, Hodder has subtly shifted the site's centre of gravity, without destroying any of Jacobsen's original clarity.

The extension of the long lawn was the starting point for Hodder's new quad, not only linking new with old, but also providing a dominant landscape feature in space that may otherwise have been dominated by car-parking. With the lawn as the principal place-making device, two new ranges of study-bedrooms run along the north and east boundaries, with the new lodge and seminar building serving as a prominent gatehouse, clearly visible on approach. The new quad adheres to many of Jacobsen's governing rules, being identical in height and controlled by rigorous planning grids that extend through building and landscape. Freestanding walls have also been incorporated to control views, access and thresholds, and the open corner at the north reminds us of Jacobsen's reinterpretation of the closed courtyard.

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Internally the plans are well ordered, deceptively simple perhaps. However, in response to previous staircase configurations, a new format has been chosen. Unlike phase one, there are no shared corridors (spaces that proved to be oversized and unused), and unlike staircases I to 16 that were set in the middle of the plan, these are fully expressed and bright. With eight rooms arranged around each glazed stairwell, space is released for light-wells that bring daylight to all but a few of the internalised shower rooms, and the ground floor rooms step in to create a modest inset cloister.

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Throughout the project, Hodder Associates have maintained a necessarily sharp eye for detail, responding well to Jacobsen's 'ideal platform'. Since 1992 when Hodder was first appointed, his work has been extensive, not only adding staircases 17-26, but also through the restoration of all the original study bedrooms and the adaptation of four staircases to include ensuite bathrooms. New glazing has also been skilfully installed throughout, working with Dissing and Weitling, Jacobsen's original design partner Teit Weylandt, and the Jacobsen Foundation. In all areas the architects have applied ingenuity and restraint, and considering the project was delivered under a hybrid design and build contract, everyone involved deserves to be extremely proud. Making a pedigree Great Dane even bigger is no mean feat.