Library Buildings around the World

Construction of the link building is steel frame on piled foundations and in-situ concrete floors with underfloor heating. Blockwork
walls support concrete rainscreen cladding with Kingspan insulation. Curtain walling is an aluminium unitised system with high
specification solar glazing. Structural glazing connects to the existing buildings, creating a visual separation while accommodating
building movement. Additional loading on the Senate House is minimised by supporting the new stair from the link building on
suspension cables. Stair flights rest on the existing building on compressible bearings.
Extensive structural floor strengthening to the former Senate House has enabled book stack floor loading and construction of a new
plant room. Structural repairs were carried out to cantilevers, a high aluminous cement survey was followed by remedial action and
an enabling works contract undertook demolitions and asbestos removal. The character of the atrium was maintained, with ceiling
slats replaced to match those existing and new glazed openings installed on the second floor. Corridor walls on all floors were
removed and replaced with glazed partitions to admit natural light and a glazed screen encloses the first-floor balcony for sound
segregation. New toilets and lift were fitted.
In the Sydney Jones Building the existing ‘temporary’ rear wall was removed and a new cavity wall constructed to match the
building. Windows to new study rooms were introduced and corner bay windows formed. All lighting, electrics, ceilings and floor
finishes were replaced and the toilets were refurbished.
As the library is open 24 hours and remained operational throughout, the build programme had to be carefully tailored, with
university exam periods a key consideration. Nine sectional completion dates ensured full operation. The Sydney Jones
refurbishment is phased on a floor-by-floor basis to mitigate disruption to users. Construction work began in August 2006, with
phase 1 – the link building and Senate House – completed on time in August 2007. Phase 2 – the Sydney Jones refurbishment – is due
for completion in September 2008.
(http://www.architecturetoday.co.uk)
University of East Anglia Library, Norwich – UK 2004 – 2006
The original six-storey Central Library at the University of East Anglia was built in 1968 to designs by Denys Lasdun and Partners
and extended by Feilden and Mawson in 1974. We were appointed in 2002 to design a new extension of some 7500 m2, to be built in
phases. As part of the design process we tested a number of options which would create new space at the heart of the campus, and
researched the original 1968 Lasdun masterplan in order to understand the pattern of growth which he and his colleagues envisaged.
We consulted with the 20th Century Society, English Heritage and the planning authority from the early stages of the project in
order to arrive at the preferred solution.A close working relationship with the Librarian and her technical user group was central to
the design process in order to achieve a high quality cost-effective building providing a well-lit, glare free and comfortable
environment requiring minimal energy. Both the new UEA Library extension and the phased refurbishment of the existing Grade IIlisted
library were completed on time and on budget, and officially opened by novelist Rose Tremain on Wednesday 8th March
2006."…it is a tribute to the design team that the plans were approved. The design provides a building of real quality and one which
complements the original Lasdun architecture. We are delighted with the internal space it provides, which is light and airy and
should provide an ideal setting for study and our collections."Jean Steward, Director of Information Services at UEA, UEA
newsletter November, 2004"a fresh twist on a modern classic"Martin Spring, Building Magazine, on UEA Library, Nov 2005
(Shepheard)
Short & Associates, Stamford – UK
http://www.shortandassociates.co.uk
Libraries:
School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London – UK 2003 – 2005
Total Project Cost: £10 million, Gross Floor Area: 3,600m2, Construction Period: December 2003 to December 2005
Awards:
RIBA President's Research Award 2007< RIBA Award 2006
Brick Awards Best Public Building of the Year 2006
CIBSE Environmental Initiative of the Year Award 2006
Shortlisted for The RIBA Sustainability Award 2006 & Low Energy Building of the Year 2006
SCONUL Library Design Award 2007
WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF TYLERS & BRICKLAYERS Triennial Award for Excellence in Brick, Commendation. 2008
Europe wide competition win in February 2002 to design a new consolidated home for the School of Slavonic and East
European Studies, (SSEES). The school was housed in various buildings within the University of London and became part
of University College in 1999. It is the first passive downdraught cooled public building in a city centre in the world. It is an
extremely energy efficient way of maintaining comfort within the urban heat island. The new building is located on the UCL
main site in Bloomsbury, with a street frontage on Taviton Street, and accommodates the SSEES Library, academic and
research facilities for the four departments that make up the School. The site is extremely complicated; the last vacant site
within the UCL campus, and in the Bloomsbury Conservation Area. Taviton Street contains several listed Georgian terraces,
a distinctive urban form that has been eroded somewhat by subsequent layers of development. An existing electrical sub-station,
fuel and district heating line connected to the Chemistry Building passed through the site, and delivery access and escape routes
had to be maintained to adjoining buildings. Planning Consent was gained in 13 weeks from submission after full consultation
with English Heritage, the Bloomsbury Society, the Victorian Society and numerous other interested parties. The building has
a hybrid environmental strategy, naturally ventilated all year and passively cooled through the summer months but engaging
downdraught cooling via a central lightwell through periods of summer peak temperatures. The London 'heat island effect'
shows the city centre to be warming but the SSEES project demonstrates that it is possible to configure a low energy strategy
in a city centre at these latitudes. This is the first known application of this low energy environmental strategy in a city centre
in the world. The strategy has been exhaustively modelled and tested at the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development
at De Montfort University, Leicester, and the BP Institute for Multiphase Flow at Cambridge University. Fresh air, tempered
in winter or pre-cooled in mid summer, flows from the atrium across the floorplates to the exterior exhausts. We have devised
acoustically treated narrow section transfer ducts within partitions to allow air to pass across enclosed spaces such as the first
floor computer rooms without unwelcome sound transfer. The entrance to SSEES, a stone sculpture by Frantisek Bilek in the
foreground. Spatial legibility was an important client priority, on entering visitors look across the atrium to the library entrance
and front desk. The terrazzo floor adopts the geometry of Borromini's marble floor in the University Church in Rome, Sant
Ivo della Sapienza. In SSEES it mediates an essentially triangular geometry into the hemicycle of the perimeter envelope.
Simulation of the likely airflow within the passively downdraught cooled SSEES building. The research employs a physical
modelling technique originally devised by Paul Lyndon at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at
Cambridge and now being developed by Andrew Woods at the University's BP Institute for Multiphase Fluid Flow. The
58