Library Buildings around the World

Atkins Design Studio, Epsom, Surrey – UK
http://www.atkinsdesign.com
Libraries:
British Library. New Archive Storage Facilities, Boston Spa – UK 2009
The building at Boston Spa in West Yorkshire is needed because shelf space is being taken up at a rate of 12.5km a year, and
available space at the existing facility in Boston Spa is being rapidly used up. The new building will have storage space for an extra 7
million items, which works out at an additional 262km of extra shelf space, enough to stretch from London to Manchester.
It features automated storage and retrieval systems and a low-oxygen system of fire prevention. This sees oxygen levels kept to just
14.8% — below the 17% at which fires can break out. The building is also one of the most air-tight in the UK.
In all, the building will hold patent specifications, books, serials and newspapers in 144,000 storage containers of three different
sizes.
Project manager on the scheme was Capita Symonds. (http://www.bdonline.co.uk) 07.12.2009
Northampton College. Lower Mounts Campus, Learning Centre, Northampton – UK 2006
Northampton Colleg´s new Lower Mounts campus provides general and basic adult education. English tution for speakers of other
languages (ESOL), support for students with learning difficulties and disabilities, all in addition to mainstream GCSE´s and A-
Levels. Work with ethnic groups is akey part of the curriculum. The project requirement includes an CT Learning Centre as part of
a vision for social inclusion. The new building is designed to provide a learning environment that will allow the users to grow and
progress with confidence. The four-storey building located on a prominent site at the corner of Lower Mounts and St. Michael´s
Road, incorporates workshops, a dance studio, library and computer-learning centre together with a coffee shop and a crèche.
Embedded in the St. Crispin and Castle wards of the town college offers programmes that focus on ´Skills for Life ´. The Council for
Ethnic Minorities (CEMC) is included in the move to the new city centre side. (Atkins)
Austin-Smith:Lord, London – UK
http://www.austinsmithlord.com
Libraries:
Liverpool Central Library, Liverpool – UK on design
₤ 50.000.000
The Liverpool Central Library and Archive Project is a unique and prestigious scheme within the heart of Liverpool’s World
Heritage Site. The project provides a 8000m2 library and specialist archive and restores 4000m2 of Grade II* listed historic
buildings on William Brown Street. A new six-floor library, with an exciting atrium, will give the City of Liverpool a library for the
21st Century. The library connects to the historic Picton Library, the Hornby Library and Oak Room giving these areas a new lease
of life and bringing them into public use. A new archive repository will provide storage for Liverpool’s most valuable collections and
will include first class facilities for preservation and research. Procured through the PFI route. The main objectives of the design are
to provide a new building that supports the new service concept for the Library, provides a low energy efficient sustainable solution
and proposals that reuse the historic parts of the building with the appropriate levels of sustainability. (Austin)
University of Manchester, John Rylands Library, Extension, Manchester – UK 2003 – 2007
₤ 50.000.000
Awards:
RIBA Award 2008
MSA Design Awards Community Education 2008
Roses Design Award for Structural Design 2007
MCCI Building of the Year Award
Best Iconic Building Title in the MRC Awards 2007
Rosen Design Award for Best Re-Use of a listet Building 2007
The Liverpool Central Library and Archive Project is a unique and prestigious scheme within the heart of Liverpool’s World
Heritage Site. The project provides a 8000m2 library and specialist archive and restores 4000m2 of Grade II* listed historic
buildings on William Brown Street. A new six-floor library, with an exciting atrium, will give the City of Liverpool a library for the
21st Century. The library connects to the historic Picton Library, the Hornby Library and Oak Room giving these areas a new lease
of life and bringing them into public use. A new archive repository will provide storage for Liverpool’s most valuable collections and
will include first class facilities for preservation and research. Procured through the PFI route. The main objectives of the design are
to provide a new building that supports the new service concept for the Library, provides a low energy efficient sustainable solution
and proposals that reuse the historic parts of the building with the appropriate levels of sustainability. (Austin)
University of Dundee Library, Extension, Nethergate, Dundee, Scotland – UK 2007
Awards:
DIA Award for Best Commercial/Public Building
This state of the art extension to the University of Dundee Library provides an integrated Learning Centre to meet the needs of an
ever-expanding campus. With a new entrance, café, teaching and meeting rooms, the new extension establishes itself firmly at the
heart of university learning. We worked closely with the University Library staff and Project team to ensure that the scheme was
developed in tandem and within the context of the University Campus Masterplan. The building’s functions are clearly discernable
in form, layout and materially with glazed study areas, an enclosed rendered box of teaching spaces and curved timber clad staff
offices. At the heart of the building a full height atrium acts as a lightwell and spatial focus for the library. The building provides
1,900m² of additional floorspace, creating a total library floor area of 8000m². (Austin)
Library & Learning Resource Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh – UK 1997
A new 21st century library and learning hub for the for the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh's
King's Buildings campus has been given a planning green light to proceed. The new facility will provide a state of the art integrated
library and learning hub which will offer a unique mix of attractive, flexible and stimulating study environments. The exciting
proposals and resulting design concept by architects Austin-Smith:Lord will create a new social, learning and administrative focal
point for the school. Learning, studying, discussing and interacting will take place in a lively, diverse and integrated centre.
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