Before St Catherine's College was built, the St Catherine's Society, a non-residential college, occupied buildings in St Aldate's. Many have admired Arne Jacobsen's design for its symmetry and attention to detail. It was stipulated, for example, that there were to be no curtains on the windows (which reach down to floor level), and even the arrangement of the furniture was prescribed. Others were outraged when Jacobsen won a prize for his design, finding the doorways too small, the lack of privacy intolerable, and the whole concept of the building too impersonal. The college was given the choice of spending a proportion of the budget on either a chapel or a Music House, and chose the latter. Several college members have adopted the nearby St Cross church as a place of worship. St Catherine's is dedicated to the study of science and mathematics. It is not possible to study there Oxford's oldest subjects, Theology and Classics.

The Zoology Department used to be part of the University Museum, while Psychology was scattered around a number of Victorian houses in North Oxford until the early 1970s. The present building is notable for its lack of windows; the Psychology library has none – instead the walls are lined with fish tanks. Legend has it that the building plans were originally intended for a hotel. Alumni include Desmond morris of 'The Naked Ape', 'Manwatching' etc and Richard Dawkins of 'The Selfish Gene'.

The Engineering Department is not depicted here, but it is worth recording that its members thought they would dispense with architects and build themselves a proper department. They originally made their window frames out of two different metals, which in damp conditions (not unknown in Oxford) formed a battery, with current flowing between them. This meant they would eventually corrode, and the windows fall out.