Kings College Library / Mitchell Eley Gould Architects
Kings College Library / Mitchell Eley Gould Architects
Context
Mitchell Eley Gould Architects were commissioned to design a new library at Kings College with the aspiration of the school librarian to raise the grades of the pupils in the school by at least 10%.
A vibrant contemporary space was designed to inspire an “iPod” generation using technology where appropriate and importantly shared and individual reading and study spaces responding to the varying needs of each year group.
Description
The library sits alongside the earlier Grade II listed College buildings which date back to 1870, a derivative of Bishop Fox’s Grammar School established in Taunton in 1523. The construction of the earlier school buildings had exhausted the local stone quarries and so to replicate the earlier materials was not an option.
Materials
The choice of a mix of 3 multistock bricks and a handmade twisted “clinker” brick and a natural hydraulic lime mortar provides a colour and texture that compliments the rubble stonework of the earlier buildings. The “witches hat” north light roof forms mirror the surrounding Victorian gables and the spatial planning responds to the established pedestrian routes around this part of the College.
As described by the Conservation Officer at Taunton Deane Borough Council; the building offers “an appropriate and successful addition within a sensitive listed environment”.
Drawings
