Library Buildings around the World

Jubilee Gardens Primary Care Centre and Library, London-Ealing – UK 2010
Client Building Better Health Limited, Value £5.4 m
The new Jubilee Gardens Primary Care Centre and Library replaces two existing buildings on adjacent sites and creates a unique
combination of healthcare and a local community facility. The building occupies the former branch Library site next to Jubilee
Gardens and is situated in a quiet suburban cul-de-sac, forming the park approach.
A spacious, two-storey, glazed entrance hall gives access to the library, a seminar room for community use and internet point. The
entrance hall also contain the main waiting area for the health centre and its main reception. There are a range of bookable
consulting rooms, group room and audiology suite at ground floor. At first floor there are consulting and treatment rooms for 3 GP
practices and District Nurses, arranged around a sub-waiting area overlooking the main entrance hall. The upper floor level is
dedicated to staff areas and offices for administration and outreach staff. A staff terrace overlooks the park to the east.
The elevations and materials are sympathetic to the local surroundings and the brick and copper coloured cladding echo the
materials of the former library building. (Penoyre)
Crawley Library, Crawley, West Sussex – UK 2008
Client West Sussex County Council, Value £12.5 m, Completed 2008
Awards:
RIBA Award, South/South East
West Sussex Design and Sustainability Awards
Crawley Library creates a new major civic building and destination for the community comprising 2850sqm public library, 450sqm
Register Office, together with 1170sqm Social Services facilities. Our brief was to develop these areas in an accessible and welcoming
integrated development forming part of a long term masterplan for the wider area around a new public open space, bringing
together the various stakeholder in a timeless yet contemporary civic building. Consultation and community participation formed an
important part of the client’s requirements and detailed aspects of the brief was developed through extensive liaison with library and
registration service staff and end users. The consultation drew on workshops with artists Gordon Young and Anna Sandberg which
clarified library end user priorities and informed an art commission for a series of engraved oak columns carrying quotations of
favourite books etched into the stripped oak trees. Sustainability was a high priority for the client and this is reflected in the
sustainable low energy design which achieves a BREEAM rating of very good and extremely low carbon emissions: 11.94
kgCO2/sqm p.a. compared with 30.31 kg CO2/sqm p.a. permitted under Building Regulations. Planning and Social Constraints -
The Library forms a first phase of an extension to Crawley town centre. We worked with the county council, planning authority,
English Partnerships (HCA), and developers to coordinate a masterplan for the phased long term development of the area. The
Library’s new public square forms the focus of this masterplan and will allow the diversion of Telford Place to create a vehicle-free
heart to the neighbourhood in the next phase. The site acts as an important Gateway site into the town centre and early consultations
with the planning authority highlighted concerns that a standalone library would not provide appropriate civic presence and
massing. Our initial feasibility study informed an expansion of the client brief to include other local public services and an upper
storey of administrative accommodation. This mix of uses allows the building mass to step down from four storeys facing the town
centre to two storeys more in keeping with surrounding streetscape. Materials and Method of Construction - The brief and
prominent town centre location called for a building which expresses civic qualities suitable for public services in the 21st century.
This was achieved through playful elevations exploring variations of rhythm between stone and glazed panels addressing the need
for transparency to showcase facilities and provide good levels of daylight. The width of the panels is based on the width of a
standard shelving unit, allowing a unique relationship between the exterior and interior whereby the books are actually embodied in
the thickness of the building envelope. Subsequently freed-up floor space contributes to a light, airy and accessible interior. Designed
as an exemplar for sustainable construction with Green Guide to Specification Class A building materials, the building form was
developed to minimise energy consumption through a sophisticated mixed mode heating and ventilation strategy which informs the
choice of materials throughout. Ventilation is regulated through BMS controlled actuators. In wintertime, tempered fresh air enters
via raised floors across underfloor heating coils, and is extracted via a central heat recovery system at a wind trough at the top of the
atrium. Renewable energy technologies used include central biomass and solar thermal hot water. A sedum roof contributes to
biodiversity and rainwater attenuation. A lifecycle cost plan informed key specification choices to minimise whole life costs. Exposed
roof finishes were replaced by ballasted systems. Hard wearing cladding materials such as Jura limestone, engineering brick and
curtain walling were specified for accessible or vulnerable areas. Internal finishes in public library area are specified for durability.
Programme and budget constraints - From early design stages onwards a life cycle cost plan was developed which informs key
aspects of the design to achieve long term economies in operation, for example through low energy design, the use of robust long-life
materials, and the integration of the library with other county council facilities for building management efficiencies. Design
development was managed to achieve best value with costs regularly evaluated against design objectives to ensure decisions add real
value. Spending was focused on obtaining high quality design and durability for public areas – for example focusing natural stone on
principle elevations, and provision of metal rather than timber shelving, solid core laminate table tops, and chairs with robust
stainless steel frames. The main contractor was selected through a two-stage IESE Framework process allowing costs and
specification choices to be checked in relation to supply chain information immediately following completion of RIBA Stage D to
achieve competitive pricing.
University of Portsmouth, University Library, Portsmouth – UK 2004 – 2007
Awards:
Civic Trust Awards Commendation 2008
Portsmouth Society Awards 2008
The 3.600 m² extension to the existing university library establishes a clear and attractive entrance plaza and gateway to
the park. In the 30 years since the first stage of the Frewen Library was built, demand on the library has dramatically
increased. The extension provides a new triple height entrance, and IT facility, a cafe and a series of seminar rooms
around a planted courtyard. The two new upper floors contain the library stack areas and reading carrels overlooking
the park and also connecting back to the existing building. Built as part of the original masterpaln the Frewen Library
has served the needs of the growing University of Portsmouth since 1977. The new extension, with its strong entrance,
has dramatically improved the experience of arrival and circulation of the library. It is approached from the Library
Plaza, a new public space created on the axis of Cambridge Road. Welcoming students into the library is a triple heigh,
light filled hall, orienting them in a dynamic space interconnecting with the existing and new parts of the library. We
have designed a flexible building to allow variable use patterns of controlled opening including 24 hour access to IT
areas. The new extension will be a recognisable and active heart for the facility bringing identity and importance to
the Frewen Library as a central element of the university. (Penoyre)
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