University University of Kent Named for Ernest Rutherford Website www.kent.ac.uk | Established 1966 Master Dr Peter Klappa | |
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Rutherford College is the second oldest college of the University of Kent. It is located on the university's Canterbury campus and was established in 1966.
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Namesake
The college is named after Ernest Rutherford, the physicist and Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry. As Rutherford achieved fame in both Physics and Chemistry, it was felt that he was a particularly appropriate namesake given the University's original desire to break down the boundaries between disciplines. Rutherford was also an alumnus of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
College architecture
The basic design of the college is to a large extent a mirror of Eliot College, and was inspired by Louis Kahn's design for a residential block at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. The need to have three hundred study-bedrooms and several large areas for distinctive use, such as teaching, a common room and a dining hall plus kitchens, led to the adoption of a section design with the college divided into several square blocks, each containing a distinctive interior space with study bedrooms along all four walls. The Bryn Mawr residential block has three squares in a row, but faced with the need for an additional square for each college, it was decided to arrange the squares in a cruciform layout.
Due to the need to have the first two colleges built early, Rutherford was designed at the same time as Eliot and so consequently the design could not be adapted to take into account problems encountered with Eliot. Due to the contours of the hill on which the campus is built, the two colleges are not exactly alike and in later years annexe extensions and alterations were to further the differences.
As originally designed the college was poorly equipped for access by the mobility impaired and later adaptations have included the installation a lift and the opening up of some study bedroom corridors, now adapted into office space for academic departments, to provide a level free route through the college.
Dining
In addition to various vending machines around the college:
Live Music
Probably the college's finest moment was on 11 November 1981 when the largely unknown U2 played the JCR. Other bands that played the college in the early eighties included Aswad, The Comsat Angels, New Model Army and Gene Loves Jezabel. The Dining Hall was regularly used twice a term in that period for live events often college balls including The Rag Ball in 1983.
Rutherford Bar
Prior to 2006, the bar was simply known as "Rutherford Bar", and was owned and maintained by Kent Hospitality. In the Summer term of the 2005/06 academic year, it was rebranded as "The Atom". During the 07/08 Autumn term, Kent Union took on ownership. After an extensive refit (beginning in the last week of the Autumn term 2007 and continuing over the Christmas break) it was remodelled, the most notable difference being the movement of the bar itself to a more centralised position in the premises.
All preexisting furniture and lighting in the bar was replaced, and the balcony that overlooked the bar was closed off to make way for solid glass panes that incorporate frosted silhouettes. The renovations that took place cut off direct access to the Junior Common Room (JCR) through the bar, although access can still be gained via one set of double doors and a fire door. The name "Rutherford Bar" has been reinstated, and stylised as "RuTHErford BAR", emphasising "The Bar".
The kitchen serves mostly panini sandwiches, pizzas and salads, but is notable for being one of the few restaurants on campus that serves no burgers or fried food, due to a lack of extraction units in the kitchen.
Rutherford bar was closed in 2013 and changed into a study area for students.