Library Buildings around the World

identified with different colours which progressively change as one moves up the building to ease wayfinding and help those with
visual impairments or cognitive difficulties. The Bridge Academy attaches great importance to its partnerships with the local
community and those with prestigious organisations such as Queen Mary University of London, the sponsor of the Academy, UBS
Investment Bank and The London Symphony Orchestra. These links provide additional opportunities for students to have a rich
educational experience. UBS’s staff volunteer their time at the Academy and work with students and staff on a wide range of
activities including Maths and English intervention and the Academy’s Maths and Music specialisms. The feedback we have received
form students and staff is that the building has been successful in providing an inspirational learning environment for all. This can
be primarily put down to the open and social feel of the building and its distinct identity within the community. For the academic
year 2009-10 the attendance figure was 95%, well above local and national averages. (http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com)
University of East London – Business School and Knowledge Dock Centre – London – UK 2008
Staff and students at the University of East London (UEL) welcomed Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of
Edinburgh for the official opening of UEL’s new Royal Docks Business School and Knowledge Dock Centre in 2008. 350 guests
including Rolf Harris, His Royal Highness Prince Turki of Saudi Arabia, Stephen Timms MP, UEL’s Chancellor Lord Rix, and UEL
staff and students applauded as Her Majesty unveiled a plaque to formally open the Business School and Library, located on the
waterfront of the Royal Albert Dock. The ceremony began at midday at UEL’s Docklands Campus. Her Majesty was welcomed by
hundreds of UEL staff, students, supporters, and partners from local schools, colleges and community groups. UEL’s new Business
School, located on the waterfront of the Royal Albert Dock, features a vast ‘trading floor’ open-plan teaching space and computing
hall, a 400-seat lecture theatre and an innovative library open 24 hours a day. The Business School provides undergraduate and
MBA programmes in all aspects of business and management to 4,000 students on campus and world-wide. Damla Mehmet and
Shoaib Bakhat, both final-year students in UEL’s Business School, were among a group of 24 students working on a water efficiency
marketing project with representatives of Thames Water as Her Majesty toured the building. “It was so exciting”, she said.“I can’t
believe I actually met the Queen. I’m really enjoying my degree here at UEL and this visit was a very special event for all of us!”
The Knowledge Dock Centre is home to UEL’s Knowledge Dock enterprise development and support service, which now works with
over 1,000 businesses, mainly small and medium enterprises in Thames Gateway. Facilities include 42 business units, the HotHatch
business generator, the Empower project for female entrepreneurs, Fabric Print & Design Bureau, the Product Design Lab, the
SMARTlab Digital Media Institute, the Sustainability Research Institute and the engineering and laboratories of UEL’s School of
Computing & Technology. Awad Bhenick, President of the UEL Entrepreneurship Society, was one of 10 entrepreneurs working in
HotHatch on Friday. Awad, a UEL Media and Advertising graduate who also directed a film of the occasion, said:“This is a
wonderful event and I’m really excited to be so closely involved. Knowledge Dock has done so much to support me and countless
other entrepreneurs and businesses in East London – this is fantastic recognition.” Following a £110 million investment programme,
the University of East London’s new facilities include the vast open-plan Trading Floor with flexible teaching space and IT hubs, a
400-seat lecture theatre, an innovative Library and Learning Centre and the Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship, established to
promote innovation in business. Linked by high-level bridges, the Knowledge Dock Centre contains business units, incubator hotdesking
facilites in the HotHatch, expert centres including SimLab, and Product Design Lab, flexible teaching and meeting space.
(http://www.associationofbusinessschool.org)
Leight Technology Academy, Dartford – UK 2008
BDP’s Leigh Technology Academy in Dartford was declared best outstanding new or refurbished secondary school in the country as
the winners of the inaugural TES (Times Educational Supplement) Schools Awards were announced on 9 June at the London Hilton
Hotel on Park Lane.
These awards celebrate and reward the professionalism and flair of those teams making an outstanding contribution to primary and
secondary schools in the maintained and independent sectors. The awards encompass new facilities, innovation in teaching,
leadership and community involvement.
Leigh Academy, which opened in 2008, is a groundbreaking 1,500 pupil school, specialising in technology and ICT. The school
consists of four colleges, all under one roof. The school is brimming with innovation being highly sustainable and uses aspects such as
orientation, passive cooling, earth tubes and passive ventilation to achieve 65% of the carbon emissions compared to DCSF
benchmarks and a reduction of 30% against part L. The school has already been praised with accolades from the Civic Trust and
RIBA, while Building Service Journal named it as its project of the year.
BDP architect director Keith Papa, who made the submission on behalf of the school said: “It is extremely rewarding to receive this
accolade from the people who use our buildings and who know what it takes to make a great new school. We are delighted to have
been part of the making of the new Leigh Technology Academy where such great teaching and learning takes place. It is a unique
response to the design challenge to set open learning terraces and classrooms around a daylit wintergarden and our design approach
is clearly paying dividends for the Leigh Technology Academy. The feedback we have received is that the architecture does a superb
job of supporting the pedagogical and pastoral approach of the Academy. It is a brilliant example of a dynamic and passionate client
and designer working together to create a delightful and inspiring place of learning.” (http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com)
Marlowe Academy, Ramsgate – UK 2006
Awards:
RIBA Sorrell Foundation Schools Award 2007
RIBA National Award 2007
RIBA Wood Award (Structural Category) 2007
Marlowe Academy, a new city academy, replaces the failing Ramsgate School. The architects were asked to come up with a building
that was modern, functional and would improve exam marks too. They have responded with an indoor village, where the resident
community can see itself in action, whether it be in the theatre, in the classrooms or in the dramatic assembly area.
The judging panel, including Paul Monaghan of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Frances Sorrell, co-founder of the Sorrell
Foundation, and Anne Canning, Head Teacher of Camden School for Girls, said:
"The atrium is the heart of a truly public building: the school library is the local public library, the sports facilities are available to
hire, and local groups use the theatre regularly. At a time when massive resources are being directed towards the rebuilding of
Britain's educational infrastructure, Marlowe Academy offers an ambitious re-definition of what a large new school can look and
feel like." (http://www.architecture.com)
Saltire Center – Caledonian University – Glasgow – UK 2006
Construction Sum: £16,000,000 [2006]
Awards:
Civic Trust commendation 2008
Scottish Design Award 2007
Lightning Design Award 2007
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