McGowin Library at Pembroke College, Oxford
McGowin Library at Pembroke College, Oxford
We have been providing structural engineering and conservation services for the radical remodelling of the McGowin Library at Pembroke College, Oxford.
The ways libraries are used has evolved and they are now important meeting places as well as centres of study. The current 1970s library is too small and inflexible and requires a complete services upgrade. The project will bring the college’s historic fabric into a more rational and resonant dialogue with its Modernist counterpart whilst opening up and extending the existing building so that it can become more appropriate in terms of capacity and organisation. Working with Wright & Wright architects, we are extending the library into an adjacent seventeenth-century building, part of Old Quad (listed Grade I). The interface has been sensitively designed, informed by our heritage assessment. Designed as a lightweight steel structure, a glazed roof extension will provide new study spaces and fantastic views of the Oxford skyline. This is designed as a lightweight steel structure.
"The Library has always been at the intellectual and communal heart of Corpus, and with the benefit of the new Special Collections Centre the needs of both our superb historic collection and our modern readers will be secured for generations to come.” - Dr Helen Moore, University of Oxford
Client: Pembroke College, Oxford
Architect: Wright & Wright architects
mages: Courtesy of the architect