Historic St John’s College in Cambridge incorporates cork flooring into its renovated Burghley Room

St John´s College, Cambridge

Historic St John’s College in Cambridge incorporates cork flooring into its renovated Burghley Room

Cork Pure Signature flooring solution enables the creation of a distinctive pattern while combining the authenticity and comfort of cork with the demands of a leading educational space. Flooring

St John’s College in Cambridge is one of the institutions that form part of the academic heritage of the University of Cambridge. With more than 500 years of history, its buildings have evolved alongside academic life over the centuries, preserving the college’s architectural character while serving the needs of students and faculty.

It was with this relationship between history and the future in mind that ScottWhitbyStudio developed the renovation of the Burghley Room, a college meeting space designed to host a variety of academic and institutional activities. The project sought to create a contemporary and functional environment capable of meeting the demands of an educational space subject to intensive use, without losing its connection to the historic character of the building. In this context, the choice of materials played an important role in defining the space and creating an environment suited to its different uses.

The natural choice of cork

One of the project’s key requirements was the use of reclaimed and locally sourced materials, while also seeking solutions that would integrate with the space’s aesthetic language and its historic surroundings. The selection of materials therefore aimed to establish a balanced relationship between the building’s identity, the contemporary expression intended for the interior, and the functional demands of the space.

It was in this context that Wicanders’ Cork Pure Signature flooring collection proved to be a particularly suitable solution. Based on cork, a natural and renewable material, the collection offers different visuals that explore the texture and natural expression of this material, making it possible to create a floor that integrates harmoniously with the other elements of the space.

In addition, this collection offers a wide range of colors, tones, and patterns that enable customized solutions to be developed for each project. At St John’s College, this versatility made it possible to create a unique pattern designed to integrate with the aesthetic language defined for the space and reinforce the identity of the interior.

Performance and everyday comfort

Beyond its aesthetic dimension, the choice of Cork Pure proved particularly well suited to the comfort requirements of an educational space with intensive daily use. The natural properties of cork contribute to the acoustic and thermal comfort of interiors, characteristics that are especially relevant in meeting rooms, where concentration and communication benefit from balanced acoustic conditions.

In Cork Pure flooring, this characteristic enables a reduction of footstep noise within the room of up to 67%*, helping to create a more balanced environment suited to the different activities carried out in the space.

Regarding thermal comfort, cork’s cellular structure helps reduce heat transfer, contributing to a surface with a more stable and pleasant temperature. Its elasticity also provides a more comfortable walking feel, making the flooring particularly suitable for frequently used spaces.

A choice designed for the future

The use of this cork solution also adds an environmental dimension, in line with the project’s concern for considering the impact of the materials used. Natural, renewable, and bio-based, cork is harvested from the bark of the cork oak without the need to fell the tree, allowing it to continue regenerating and producing cork throughout its life cycle.

The solution’s environmental dimension is quantified in the corresponding Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), which presents a carbon footprint of -2.46 kg CO₂eq/m² for Cork Pure flooring.

The integration of these characteristics into a project that values the use of reclaimed and locally sourced materials reinforces the coherence of choosing Cork Pure Signature for the Burghley Room.

Much more than a floor

The intervention in the Burghley Room demonstrates how the choice of materials can help preserve the identity of a historic space while simultaneously meeting the demands of its contemporary use. Integrated into the project’s aesthetic language and developed to meet the needs of the space, Cork Pure Signature brings the authenticity of cork to the interior, combined with comfort and performance characteristics.

The result is a space where tradition and contemporaneity find a point of balance, with the flooring taking on a discreet yet relevant role in its identity and experience.

*Reduction of in-room noise – Compared with the EPLF (European Producers of Laminate Flooring Association) requirement for RWS (radiated walking sound) < 110 sone.