The AJ can exclusively reveal the designs by the four finalists in the competition to complete the West Quadrangle of St Cross College, University of Oxford.

The schemes have been drawn up by Niall McLaughlin Architects, Pringle Richards Sharratt Architects, Wilkinson Eyre Architects and Walters & Cohen, which is headed by the joint winners of the AJ ’s Woman of the Year 2012 prize, Cindy Walters and Michál Cohen.

The teams in the invited contest, organised by Malcolm Reading Consultants, were given the ‘rare opportunity to finish a tucked-away and much-loved space’ in St Giles, next to the Grade II-listed Pusey House.

The brief called for a new building which ‘should seem a natural companion and complement to the existing buildings, enhancing them, the garden and the surrounding townscape’. It concluded: ‘In whole and in detail this should be a scheme which provides continuing satisfaction and unexpected moments of delight.’

The teams are interviewed this week by a 15-strong jury, which includes Oxford University pro-vice-chancellor Sally Mapstone, master of St Cross College and former V&A director Mark Jones, the university’s director of estates Paul Goffin, head of capital projects Mike Wigg, and Malcolm Reading.

The winner will be announced this autumn.