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Corpus Christi College, Oxford - The Spencer Building

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A new Passivhaus-certified Special Collections Centre and Library that consolidates an exceptional collection into a single, environmentally controlled home.

Client: Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Architect: Wright & Wright Architects
Location: Oxford, England

Corpus Christi is one of Oxford’s oldest and smallest colleges and its Special Collections are of international significance, containing more than 20,000 early printed books and 546 manuscripts, including works by Galileo and Erasmus.

The existing site xxxxxx

The Spencer Building consolidates this exceptional collection into a single, environmentally controlled home which also provides a range of carefully curated spaces with facilities designed to support world-leading research.

Designing to rigorous Passivhaus standards in a historic, Grade I listed site posed challenges, particularly in achieving high levels of insulation and airtightness within retained historic fabric. In collaboration with Passivhaus consultants Max Fordham, we placed the archive in a new insulated, airtight concrete bunker built against the old city wall, harnessing its thermal mass to create stable, low-energy environmental conditions for the collections.

As engineers, we designed the building’s structure to satisfy the rigorous standards of Passivhaus, with the aim of achieving ultra-low energy consumption by minimising the need for space heating. This has been accomplished through several measures, including the incorporation of high-quality insulation, the elimination of thermal bridges, the installation of high-performance triple-glazed windows with insulated frames, and the implementation of an airtight building envelope. The building’s expected heating demand is 15 kWh/m²/year, aligning both predicted heating and total operational energy use with the pilot version of the new Net Zero Carbon Building Standard.

Internally, the 479 m² building includes art archival and study spaces, as well as an additional 2000m of shelving for manuscripts and early printed books. Fifty-five reader desks and six research desks make the most of natural light and for the first time in the College’s 508-year history, step-free access has been created to the historic Old Library. Externally, a new ashlar stone façade fronting Oriel Square has been added, as well as a small outdoor space with benches.