For us, good architecture plays a variety of experiences against underlying order so as to produce harmony. The new library is based upon a logical latticework of interrelated elements. A regular grid of brick chimneys supports the floors and book stacks and carries warm air up to ventilate the building. Between each set of four chimneys, there is a roof lantern bringing light down into the spaces below: air rising and light falling.

This regular array produces a natural hierarchy with narrow zones for circulation and wide zones for reading rooms. The delineation of load-bearing brick vertical structure, supporting spanning engineered timber horizontal structure is used to reinforce the organizational scheme. This creates an underlying pattern of warp and weft that we hope can be understood intuitively by people using the building.

The materiality and form of the new library are derived both from its context and from the College’s brief to make a highly durable and sustainable building. The older college buildings are of load-bearing brick, with timber floors and gabled pitched roof structures. Brick chimneys animate the skyline and stone tracery picks out the fenestration. We tried to make the new building from this set of architectural elements. We used timber instead of stone for our window tracery, which will weather over time to become a silvery grey like the stone.

We worked carefully with our builders to find a variety of bricks that would match the tapestry-like quality of the older College buildings. At the same time, this is a modern building that employs innovative passive ventilation strategies to minimize energy in use and engineered timber structure to reduce carbon embodied in its construction.

Text provided by the architect.

In 2011 the lake was drained to carry out major works to clear silt and repair the banks. We identified a location for the fishing hut at the southwest corner of the lake that provided easy access from the riverbank and optimum views along the lake and river. We installed 18 precast concrete drainage rings at 1.8m centres on the lakebed and filled them with concrete to form pad foundations before the lake was refilled.

The building was constructed on its pad foundations between April and September 2014 without re-draining the lake. Nine galvanised steel goalpost frames are fixed to the pad foundations. The steel frames support the timber floor structure and the glue laminated oak superstructure. The roof is made of softwood rafters, clad internally with oak boards and externally with profiled aluminium sheeting.

The building’s structure divides into ten bays of 1.8m. A pair of bays at each end form open decks, partly covered by the overhanging pitched roof. Below the eaves shutters and cladding formed of open jointed timber planks enclose the six central bays. This enclosure comprises a weather tight internal space of four bays and a semi-enclosed storage area. The first bay of the internal space contains an entrance lobby, WC, kitchenette and dining area. The other 3 bays form an open plan area enclosed by sliding glazed screens. The storage area beyond contains a loft for boat storage, an external shower and a covered mooring with a removable floor and water gate.

In its closed state the pitched roof form and handling of the cladding materials refer directly to the construction of modern agricultural buildings. The exposed timber structure and cladding is made of oak. We chose this native species for its durability and characteristic colour and grain. The untreated exterior timber will weather to match the silver-grey colouring of the roof cladding and steel supports.

Along the sides of the building we sought a form of shutter that gave the least visual intrusion on the continuous horizon. By horizontally pivoting the shutters upward from the eaves the enclosure disappears, leaving you on a deck above the water beneath the pitched roof. In contrast to the exterior, the timber of the enclosed interior will retain in its warm golden tone, which is revealed and reflected in the water as the perimeter shutters are opened.

Text provided by the architect.