peckham library case study

Your browser is not supported

Sorry but it looks as if your browser is out of date. To get the best experience using our site we recommend that you upgrade or switch browsers.

Find a solution

Welcome to building.co.uk. This site uses cookies. Read our policy .

• Skip to main content
• Skip to navigation

• Back to parent navigation item
• Contact details
• Our history: 180 years of Building
• Digital editions
• Digital supplements
• Subscriptions
• Buy or renew a subscription
• Subscriber queries

Building Awards

• Race to net zero
• Building Talks podcast
• RICS in crisis
• Crossrail latest
• Building safety
• Materials shortages
• Every Person Counts
• How to save the world
• Proud to Help
• Consultants
• Contractors
• Cities & regeneration
• Education & healthcare
• Infrastructure
• Sponsored content
• Election Focus
• Buildings, Design and Specification
• Construction Business: Strategy, Risk and Regulations
• Digital Construction
• International
• Net zero and energy
• Social Value
• Take the latest modules
• Search for jobs
• Careers features
• Salary Surveys
• Building the Future
• Building the Future Conference
• Building the Future Commission
• Market data
• League tables
• Market forecast
• Cost models
• Infrastructure costs
• International costs
• Roundtables
• CRASH charity
• Building Boardroom
• Building Boardroom Digital Construction Academy

A festival focused on the future of digital construction

2024 events calendar

• More from navigation items

Will Alsop's Peckham library revisited

By Martin Spring and Martin Spring Martin Spring 2009-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

It won the Stirling prize, but many doubted whether it would ever win over the locals

Source:  Astrid Kogler

The front elevation, complete with giraffe-leg columns

Students at internet-linked tables below the pods are not disturbed by traditional library users perusing the bookshelves

On the whole, the design has weathered its first nine years pretty well, except for some faint traces of graffiti

The only major attack was with an air rifle, but repairs could cost £48,000

Children are given the best treat of the building – a vast window wall offering a panorama of London

The entrance hall is cramped, municipal and offers no enticement to venture up to the library on the fourth floor

It won the Stirling prize, but many doubted whether it would ever win over the locals. Nine years on, Martin Spring went back to Will Alsop’s Peckham library to find out

Peckham library in south London can be read as a textbook case of signature architecture mobilised in the cause of urban and social regeneration. In the nineties, Southwark was the second most deprived council area in England, and Peckham was one of its worst areas. Housing was poor, unemployment high and the GCSE pass rate was a third of the national average.

So, the £6.75m library was commissioned by the Labour-run council as part of a £265m regeneration package for Peckham. The 2,500m2 building, designed by Will Alsop, was completed in 2000 and was greeted as an architectural wonder – albeit a bizarre one. It went on to win that year’s Stirling prize and a Civic Trust award two years later.

Now, nine years after completion, is the building fulfilling the goal set for it? Does it attract people from deprived backgrounds to the world of books, learning and education? Has it launched a generation of IT-orientated libraries? And has it acted as a catalyst for the regeneration of this rundown borough?

Well, we’ll come back to those questions. The first thing to say about it is that the building’s strangest and most in-your-face feature is also a fundamental handicap. By perching the library hall high up on the fourth floor, Alsop overturned the golden rule of retailing: display your wares as prominently as you can to pull in passers-by. In an area not noted for its love of scholarship, this could be a serious defect.

That said, this handicap has not prevented Peckham from becoming the most popular of Southwark’s 13 branch libraries. Over the past year, it has attracted 35,000 visits a month, more than its counterpart in the leafy suburb of Dulwich and 9% above the target set by the council.

Membership of the library is higher than the borough average for all age groups up to 44, and this popularity reaches its peak for teenagers, who record a 14% membership within the population of 15-to-19 year olds – twice the average in Southwark. This partly fulfils the vision of Daniel Olsen, the former borough librarian and building client, who argued that the only way to hook people as library users was to attract the under-10s.

The main library hall on the fourth floor is an expansive, double-height space punctuated by three of Alsop’s trademark pods: large gourd-shaped enclosures floating in the upper void. This weird arrangement combines 60 secluded study spaces below the three pods with light and airy areas for shelving and circulation.

From 9am, when the library opens on weekdays, the desks fill up rapidly with students and others looking for quiet study space with or without an internet-connected terminal. According to librarian Linda Foster, the 25 PC terminals record a 94% usage. Beyond that, she notes that a wireless broadband network was installed in 2006, and this has attracted a group of internet users who bring their own laptops.

“It’s calm, quiet and a big space,” says student John Salmon. He adds that the library is well stocked and staff are “very helpful”. Fellow student Cathy Asante also likes the spaciousness. But she also points to a deficiency: “Sometimes I’m here all day and I’d like something to eat, but there’s no cafe.”

As for the pods, these are not living up to their promise, even though their external patchwork coats of paper-thin plywood shingles remain fascinating and unblemished. The central one is an open mezzanine floor that floats like a dinghy over the library shelving below. It had been fitted out as an Afro-Caribbean library, but Foster says: “Books looked incongruous there, and people didn’t go up to visit it.” Accordingly, she brought the collection downstairs and refurnished the pod with four-square study desks, which also look incongruous.

Peckham has become the most popular library in Southwark. Over the past year, it has attracted 35,000 visits a month  

One of the two enclosed pods had been designated as a toddlers’ den reached from the children’s library by a narrow spiral staircase. But Foster keeps most toddlers’ activities in the lower library, which is, in any case, a more attractive space. The other pod is a slightly forlorn, bare, windowless meeting room lined in wood-chip wallpaper.

By far the most entertaining pods are a couple of study carrels just large enough to accommodate a brace of hobbits. They are housed in the compact local history library on the second floor, but history librarian Bob Askew finds them annoying as they get in the way of shelving and circulation.

As to the mystery of why the library hall should have been hoisted five storeys above pavement level, the answer is only revealed when you step out of the lift. Continuous windows stretch along its north and south sides, and these display breathtaking panoramas of London.

It is the children’s library on the north side that exploits the views to most exhilarating effect. From here, the London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Gherkin and the whole skyline of central London are on display. The clear-glazed double-height window wall also frames a vast amount of sky, and a random pattern of large panes tinted pale yellow, pink or blue add to the spectacle. Little wonder that Foster has all but abandoned the enclosed children’s pod.

Down at the building’s main entrance, the scene is glaringly different. The small door is cut out of a continuous, prison-like facade of wire mesh. The entrance lobby is cramped and municipal and offers visitors no enticement to view the splendours a short lift ride away. Even the award plaques from the RIBA and the Civic Trust have been hidden away.

These awards have spread the fame of Peckham library across the world. In recent months, Foster has received groups of visitors from Croatia, Nebraska and South Korea, and has even presented a paper at a conference in Singapore.

So is the library better known and more admired overseas than in its home neighbourhood? This is stretching things too far. In Building’s straw poll of visitors, most were attracted by architectural as well as practical matters. “It’s a building that draws young people like myself,” says Salmon, who adds: “It makes me less bored when I’m here.” Fodaay Kamara says: “It looks very wonderful from the outside, and it’s the same inside.” The strongest praise come from assistant librarian Lesley Palmer, who says: “I absolutely love it here. It’s like a spaceship and it’s always busy. I’ve been here four years and I don’t want to move to another library.”

After nine years of operation, what has been the impact of the library on the social well-being of Peckham? “The library is a beacon that pulls people towards it,” says its literary development officer, Sandra Agard, who reels off a series of the bookish events that helps this process. “Children and adults are proud to use this world-famous building, so it shapes the community.”

Southwark council is now ruled by a Lib Dem–Tory coalition, but it has not dismissed the library as the weird indulgence of a previous regime. Just the opposite: it intends to develop another library building as the centrepiece of regeneration of nearby Surrey Quays. An “iconic” building stands near the top of its published wishlist for this proposed library, Piers Gough has been appointed architect, and his design is shaped like an inverted concrete pyramid. So the free-thinking, rule-breaking spirit of Peckham Library lives on in inner-city Southwark.

Will Alsop vs the vandals of Peckham

How does Will Alsop’s outlandish chunk of look-at-me designer architecture stand up to the wear and tear and vandalism of the tough, gritty, inner-city district it stands in? The answer is not too badly on the whole, although with one glaring exception. A more intractable problem is that, being a special architect-designed building using non-standard products, it is difficult, costly and time-consuming to repair. The exceptional vandal damage and the repair problems are both exemplified in the window wall covering the entire north face of the building. In a savage act of vandalism, six of the storey-height double-glazed panels at ground-floor level were smashed, three of them by air-gun pellets. Putting a brave face on the incident, librarian Linda Foster says: “I’ve worked in buildings in leafy suburbs, where you find broken windows every Monday morning. Here it’s only happened once, but it’s going to be a big job to put right.” She then explains that glazed panels were no longer produced by the original supplier and instead had to be procured from France, while the tinted film had to be supplied by the original architect. Meanwhile the repair costs had risen to £48,000, and the unsightly smashed panels have remained untouched and open to view for several months. Alsop decided to protect the main entrance side of the building much more securely with a strong chain-mail of metal mesh (pictured). The side walls are clad above first storey height in green patinated copper panels, a few of which are blotchy after graffiti was removed by sandblaster. Another irritating maintenance problem concerns the recessed ceiling lights in the library hall. As the hall is a double-height space and access is restricted to a pair of passenger lifts and a narrow staircase, scaffolding must be laboriously erected to replace the light bulbs, and since the library is open seven days a week, this means overnight. But in its first year of operation, the library was closed for a week just for this single routine activity. These days, bulbs are replaced out of opening hours, but on the day of Building’s visit several bulbs had failed and were waiting for this occasion. Last year, Southwark council outsourced all maintenance and repair work to several private firms. Since then, even day-to-day maintenance and repairs are lackadaisical. Assistant librarian Lesley Palmer says the heating system is often out of action, and library user Birger Lindberg from Sweden is annoyed by lift breakdowns. “Every second week they don’t work,” he says. On the plus side, it is a relatively low-energy building with no air-conditioning, though librarian Foster concedes: “It is true that the library does get quite stuffy in the summer months.” Accordingly, standalone air-conditioning units were retrofitted in the two enclosed pods and the main staff office.

Changing rooms

The building’s innate adaptability is demonstrated by the One Stop Shop (above), which lies next to the lift lobby on the ground floor and dispenses all council services including Homesearch for people on its housing waiting list. The One Stop Shop is intensively used, dealing with 300 inquiries a day, according to manager Carla Walker. Accordingly, it was expanded in 2006 by 70% in floor area by adding a mezzanine floor, compact fit-out and air-conditioning designed by Alexei Marmot Associates. The building’s double-height space was able to accommodate the extra mezzanine floor, its robust reinforced-concrete frame designed by Adams Kara Taylor took the additional load without needing new foundations, and dead space below its escape-stair landing housed the new air-handling unit. Only the air-conditioning chillers could not be fitted into the original building and have instead been installed in a 2m high black box a few paces away.

Original print headline: ‘Peckham turns over a new leaf’

• Education and healthcare
• South Eastern England

Marketplace Recommendations

Related articles

Will Alsop dies aged 70

2018-05-14T06:14:00Z By Elizabeth Hopkirk

Tributes pour in for Stirling Prize winner

Canada's bold new library: Can we borrow it?

2012-01-06T00:00:00Z By Ike Ijeh

A city near Vancouver has taken a bold approach with its new public library - throwing out traditional study spaces and pioneering design by social media. Could it provide a template for our own beleaguered institutions? Ike Ijeh reports

Alsop could reunite with former SMC boss

2009-08-14T00:00:00Z By Daniel Stewart and Daniel Stewart Daniel Stewart

Questions were being asked this week about the next move for maverick architect Will Alsop – sparking rumours of a possible link-up with the former chairman of his parent company, Stewart McColl

2 Readers' comments

Only registered users can comment on this article., more from focus.

Building Awards 2024 shortlists: Building Magazine Project of the Year

2024-08-23T05:00:00Z

In a series celebrating Building’s Building Awards finalists, we look at the Building Magazine Project of the Year shortlist

Building Awards 2024 shortlists: Building’s Good Employer of the Year

2024-08-22T07:32:00Z

In a series celebrating Building’s Building Awards finalists, we look at the Building’s Good Employer of the Year shortlist

What does the collapse in section 106 demand mean for housing delivery?

2024-08-22T06:00:00Z By Joey Gardiner

Housing associations have stopped bidding to buy section 106 homes in many parts of the country, resulting in a drop-off in affordable homes and major delays on for-sale schemes. Joey Gardiner asks what the implications are and how the problem can be resolved

• Previous issues
• A - Z Subjects
• A - Z Contributors
• Building Product Search
• © Building 2023
• Terms and Conditions
• Cookie Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Contact Building

Site powered by Webvision Cloud

Peckham Library, London

A welcoming community space in the heart of Peckham…

WF undertook the design consultancy and implementation for the refurbishment of this public library after the upgrading of its heating and ventilation system. The council took the opportunity to reassess their service needs and the needs of their diverse and multi-cultural community.

The building includes interesting architectural features that the project needed to complement and enhance.

The project included the upcycling and replanning of their existing shelving (provided originally by WF/previously Demco Interiors in 2000) in the adult area. This included the addition of engaging end-panel graphics to designate genres. These were designed to complement the muted colour scheme in the adult library.

We upgraded and increased the individual solo study spaces (with integrated power), located in several areas in the library, using accents of grey to tie into the overall aesthetic.

We added additional signage, to improve wayfinding around the space.

Using our Everna™ system we designed an updated modern facility to include shelving to promote browsing and borrowing, study places, reading dens, and cosy nooks.

The New Children's Library

WF created a new fabulous large, dedicated Children’s library. This space, using the Everna™ system has a distinctive look and feel – deliberately different to the main library.

The shelving is a mix of 1500 and 1200 in a vibrant kiwi green to appeal to younger children, with plentiful display shelves and browser boxes. The Everna™ system incorporates a large double-width window den and a smaller cosy single den to encourage reading.

The scheme creates small nooks and zones, without compromising sightlines, to encourage children to explore and browse.

The New Young Adults Area

To encourage more teenagers to visit and make use of the library service, a designated Young Adults area was integrated into a corner of the main library. This was located near the graphic novels section, known to be a popular ‘hook’ to encourage visits, and included a section specifically for revision guides and exam resources.

The Everna™ system incorporated a double-width window seating den and a single den integrated into the shelving. Whilst maintaining sightlines, the large den designates the space and provides a feeling of ownership, separate from the main library.

We worked with the library team regarding the layout, the function, and the aesthetic feel, providing visuals and colour boards to help the customer imagine the finished result.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Addressing Energy Efficient Lighting and Ventilation in Libraries: A Case Study of Peckham Library, London, UK

2021, Global scientific journal

Lighting and ventilation are the main factors which influences the amount of energy consumed in a Library, as human comfort within a space requires a reasonable amount of light and airflow. Buildings that are not energy efficient require more mechanical/electrical devices to achieve thermal cooling in tropical areas and thermal heating for cold regions. In Nigeria, most buildings hardly take energy efficiency into consideration due to ignorance, poverty, lack of awareness and/or improper policy on building regulations by Government. But as a cultural service institution, libraries should take the initiative to protect the environment, rather than adding to the continuous degradation of the natural environment. Use of mechanical devices to attain thermal comfort in buildings is not only capital intensive but also generate greenhouse gases, air and noise pollution amongst others. Apart from the use of energy efficient lighting fixtures, Libraries should be designed to be energy efficient by providing large windows for natural ventilation and natural light. And provision of naturally ventilated open spaces such as court yards for proper airflow within the habitable spaces. This paper looks at measures to effectively reduce the amount of energy consumed in a Library, by reviewing the case study of Peckham Library; which was designed to be energy efficient by relying more on natural lighting and ventilation, rather than mechanical means. The data collected is structured, analysed and interpreted to understand practical ways on how energy efficient lighting and ventilation can be achieved in libraries. Therefore the scope of this paper aims at: Promoting energy efficiency in the design and construction of libraries.

Related Papers

dr amira Elsonbaty

International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology

Moses Iorakaa AYOOSU , International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology IJSRSET

In buildings, natural ventilation is for human comfort; for odour removal, body and the structure cooling. A previous study revealed that libraries in Nigeria could not function efficiently without artificial ventilation and lighting. Artificial ventilation, aside from economic disadvantages, it is not reliable and anti-sustainability while natural ventilation is reliable, consume less energy, and in other words, it is more efficient when compared with other types of ventilation. The research evaluates the application of passive architectural strategies for natural ventilation in libraries within the hot-humid climate of Nigeria, intending to recommend natural ventilation strategies in libraries. Ten (10) libraries were selected randomly in the study area from both institutional and public libraries. The research conducted using observation schedule, the variables in the research are; Window types, Clerestory windows availability, Door openings, Screen walls, Courtyard, Other openings, use of external shading devices and orientation of the library. The data analysed using descriptive statistic; the results presented using tables, bar charts and pie charts. The research revealed that 29% of the cases studied use external vertical structural shading devices, 36% use horizontal shading devices, 21% use both vertical and horizontal shading devices to deflect solar radiation and 14% do not use any external shading devices. 80% of the libraries studied was oriented toward north-south (NS) direction, while 20% oriented toward east-west (EW) direction. Therefore, the majority of the libraries studied have desired orientation; however, each lacks one of the passive cooling strategies. Adequate natural ventilation in the libraries is achievable by the proper synthesis of the building orientation, proper design of building internal spaces, the proper position of window openings and use of projected window as well as clearstory. More so, further study to enhance natural ventilation configuration for the study area is desirable.

IJAR Indexing

Climate change is real and felt globally. Climatic factors such as intense solar radiation, high humidity and condensation, dust and sandstorms and flood affects the comfort of man and safety of built environment. Most of the climatic changes are due to human activities in the environment, particularly the built environment. These suggest that human activities and physical constituents of built environment interact with other climate drivers. These prompt the need for response,and response to climate change falls into two phases-mitigating and adaptation. Therefore, this paper discusses how climate change can be mitigated through green architecture in Nigeria. In this light, the paper will be a conceptual paper.The library research method was used in this study to gather secondary data from textbooks, articles and journals to develop a conceptual framework on how green architectural practices can be used to mitigate climate change in order to sustain built environment in Nigeria. This paper adopts the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) (2015) principles of green building and sustainable site design. It highlights climatic changes and their effects in Nigeria. It further discusses the concept and principles of green architecture. The study concludes that Nigerian built environment is vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Therefore, there is need for architects, builders, engineers and clients to promote and adopt green architectural practices in order to mitigate the effect of climate change for sustainable environment.

The rapid population growth, associated urbanization, and infrastructure development resulted in adverse impact on the environment, which is becoming increasingly alarming and creating many challenges. These circumstances have made the concept of “Green Buildings and Sustainable Built Environment” a necessity rather than an option. This research studies and introduces the environmental considerations for green and sustainable architecture, it aims to identify the factors that affect green building design and sustainable urban development. It also defines various elements and procedures required to achieve a successful green design. Furthermore, the study classifies the main factors that drive the urban development in the Gulf region that can improve the energy efficiency and the quality of the built environment in hot countries, such as Saudi Arabia and similar climatic zones. The research methodology is based on case study approach to analyze and evaluate concerning environmental considerations. It combines observation and qualitative research methods. This research attempts to fill a gap in the literature concerning green built environment considerations in Saudi Arabia in particular and the Gulf region in general.

International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (IJIRSET)

Pratish Rawat

Currently, about 40% of the world's energy consumption is used in buildings. In India, with the improvement of living standards and the improvement of living standards, the energy consumption of cooling/heating in buildings is also increasing. The document presents a study based on a survey conducted in residential buildings in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. This survey was conducted to evaluate the influence of various parameters such as orientation, window/wall ratio, open areas around buildings, window areas exposed to direct solar radiation, planting, shading, natural lighting, energy consumption in summer and winter Wait. The results have been analyzed for thermal comfort conditions. Controlling this direct sunlight gain can be used as a measure to increase energy savings and thermal comfort. The method of controlling direct solar gain has been discussed in this document. Describes energysaving opportunities and makes recommendations. From the perspective of optimally designing new residential buildings, this research is useful and can also reduce the energy consumption of existing buildings through some simple measures.

European Scientific Journal ESJ

When designing schools, universities, or any educational centers, daylight in classrooms is usually one of the essential issues that take the architect's attention. Its importance comes from the fact that daylight can impact students' health, mood, and visual performance. Providing an appropriate amount of uniformly distributed light with glare protection is a significant factor in classroom design (Zomorodian Z S, 2016). This study is based on a literature review, studies, and articles researching the effect of daylight in a classroom environment on students' performance. It tends to define the significance of daylight design in the learning environment. This paper also deals with specifying and exploring all the conditions, factors, and elements that contribute to creating this successful daylight design in classrooms. Besides, it investigates the daylight design of the buildings at the campus of Sarajevo that will, later on, contribute to the creation of a design manual of all the considerations that need to be taken for schools and educational centers' daylight design. The study is conducted at the campus of Sarajevo in the academic year 2019. The literature review, data study, and previous studies define the significance of daylight in the classroom environment and show the correlation between daylight and students' achievement in the classroom environment. It defines the elements and conditions of successful daylight design in classroom settings. The study explored the current state of the daylight design at the campus of Sarajevo detecting its lacks and obstacles regarding adequate illumination. Based on the literature review, an appropriate solution for the investigated classroom environment has been designed.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CREATIVE RESEARCH THOUGHTS

Adithya Sainath , sangeeta das

This paper aims to find out the contributions of the day lighting system and to reduce the artificial lighting system are simultaneously taken into account. The concept behind this is that to increase the use of day lighting by sustainable strategies in order to decrease the amount of load in artificial lighting. Different typology of the building is taken into consideration to understand the amount of light we need in different workspace. It will be understand how to reduce artificial lighting by low-light fixture and fill the gap where day lighting is not possible to reach the working space. Daylight is important in a work space to make the indoor environment comfortable to work and more productive. So finding strategies to improve the day lighting helps in improving the indoor environment. Also, low-light fixtures are also there so that energy consumption is less and according to the typology and need of the building artificial lighting can be used in places where day lighting is not available.

One of the most important issues in sustainable development is energy saving. Static methods of heating and cooling buildings are one of methods of saving fossil fuels. In discussing sustainable development and therefore sustainable architecture, the obvious fact is that every building must interact with its surrounding natural environment. The controversial and significant aspect of this fact is manner of interacting and type of considered measures. In this study, stepped villages of East Azarbaijan, Iran were studied and Passive solutions in heating and cooling buildings were analyzed. Finally, data obtained in the two tables, which show the passive cooling and heating procedure in regional villages are presented. In this article, a survey – analytical methodology is used. Finally, the overall result was that renewable energies such as solar and wind were used as methods of creating thermal comfort in villages of the studied area and minimal use of nonrenewable energies has been made. Moreover, the south orientation of villages plays an important role in benefiting from the sunlight. Also, villages are located on a sloped ground, as a result of which parts of buildings are dug into the ground and the thermal mass of the earth is utilized as a source of comfort for residents. At last, the method obtained from the vernacular architecture can be used as a model in today modern architecture that maximizes the use of fossil fuels.

ishika agarwal

Journal of International Academic Research For Multidisciplinary (JIARM), ISSN: 2320-5083, Journal Impact Factor (2015): 1.625

Prof. (Dr.) Jayeshkumar Pitroda

A building that uses both technology and process, to create a facility that is safe, healthy, comfortable and enables productivity, well-being of its occupants is called intelligent building. With lots of energy crisis in today`s world, it is very important for architects, engineers and construction managers make buildings which are energy efficient, intelligent by its functions and usage, too. Technologies applied in intelligent buildings will improve the building environment and functionality for occupants, while reducing operational costs. An intelligent building has an implicit logic that effectively evolves with changing user requirements and technology, ensuring continued and improved intelligent operation, maintenance and optimization. It exhibits key attributes of environmental sustainability to benefit present and future generations. The notion of the Intelligent Building is the modern civil engineer's big idea of tackling these deficiencies. An intelligent building must be smart enough to vary the environment to suit the users and also to provide various means of communication or network regardless of whether it is internal or external. This paper provides a review of research era in the area of Intelligent Building.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (IJIRSET))

Jacob Antony , Ebin Antony

Conference Paper

Ibrahim Girku

Mamdouh A. Mohamed

Mamdouh Abdelsattar Ali Mohamed (Elmenshawy)

Jenny Ellis

IOSR Journals

ajer research

Sustainability

Luisa Dias Pereira

Helwan university

Ayman Abdel-Halim

GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS

Nasa Chibuisi

International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology

IJRASET Publication

Khalid Anwar

Andriono Popong

iyab aldallu

International Journal of Advanced Research (IJAR)

Ecological Informatics

Lucianne Casasanta Garcia

Mohammad Rasmy

Dr. Kiranmayi Raparthi

Andrea Botti

Journal of Solar Energy Research (JSER)

Shiva Farivar

Assessment of Passive Retrofitting Scenarios in Heritage Residential Buildings in Hot, Dry Climates

Hanan Ibrahim

IAEME PUBLICATION

IAEME Publication

Yawovi Nougbléga

Global Scientifc Journals

Dr. weje I K E Z A M Innocent

Journal of Architecture and Engineering

Dr. Mohammad Arif Kamal

Michael Trinkley

Nuno Mateus

School of Architecture, University of Liverpool

Hendren H A M I D Abdulrahman

mariam hamzat

prof.dr.mohamed abdelall ibrahim

Josielyn Arreza

Mohammad Salman

Scientific Research Journal

International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

IJERT Journal

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Reshma Singh , Jyotirmay Mathur , Mahabir Bhandari

Adrian Pescaru

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Dezeen Magazine dezeen-logo dezeen-logo

C20 campaigns for Peckham Library to be made UK's first 21st-century listed building

Architectural charity Twentieth Century Society has made a bid for architect Will Alsop 's Peckham Library to become the first 21st-century building in the UK to receive protected status.

The Twentieth Century Society (C20) submitted an application to make Peckham Library a grade II*-listed building to protect it from plans to add "intrusive new rooftop plant equipment" to its roof.

Opened in 2000, Peckham Library was designed by Alsop's studio Alsop and Störmer and won the Stirling Prize the same year.

If C20's application is successful, it would become the UK's youngest listed building and the first building opened in the 21st century to be listed.

"Peckham Library radically redefined what a library was," C20 director Catherine Croft said.

"Putting accessibility and nurturing a community at the heart of its mission, with innovative and playful architecture that makes it a distinctive, much-loved landmark."

"Recently listed La Frégate is Alsop at his most frivolous, and while Peckham [Library] may look similarly light-hearted, it's an intensely serious building with bold social ambition, deliberately turning its back on the past," she continued.

"When Alsop collected the Stirling Prize for this building in 2000, he reputedly mothed 'Fuck the past!' at the TV cameras. Now, this provocation of history is history itself."

C20 made the application after a planning application was submitted to add air source heat pumps to the building's roof, which it believes would "negatively impact on the significance" of the library.

The society is requesting that an alternative location should be found for the equipment.

"The library has a highly characterful roofscape which is most striking when experienced from longer-ranging viewpoints," said C20.

"The roofscape is a key contributor to the overall design of the building with its welcoming 'Library' sign and distinctive vermillion 'beret' above the central reading room pod, with domes flanking it to either side."

Set alongside a small square in Peckham, south London, the library has a distinctive form that looks like an inverted capital L.

The main reading room is located on the fourth floor 12 metres in the air and supported on stilts, with an information centre and reading room located on the ground and first floors.

One of Britain's best-known architects, Alsop passed away in 2018. His projects include the Sharp Centre for Design, Ontario College of Art & Design, Chips housing and the Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre . His La Frègate cafe in Jersey recently became the British Isles' "youngest listed building".

The photography is courtesy of All Design + Roderick Coyne unless stated otherwise.

• Architecture
• Twentieth Century Society

Subscribe to our newsletters

A quarterly newsletter rounding up a selection of recently launched products by designers and studios, published on Dezeen Showroom. 

Our most popular newsletter, formerly known as Dezeen Weekly, is sent every Tuesday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Plus occasional updates on Dezeen’s services and breaking news. 

Sent every Thursday and containing a selection of the most important news highlights. Plus occasional updates on Dezeen’s services and invitations to Dezeen events. 

A daily newsletter containing the latest stories from Dezeen.

Daily updates on the latest design and architecture vacancies advertised on Dezeen Jobs. Plus occasional news.

Weekly updates on the latest design and architecture vacancies advertised on Dezeen Jobs. Plus occasional news.

News about our Dezeen Awards programme, including entry deadlines and announcements. Plus occasional updates.

News from Dezeen Events Guide, a listings guide covering the leading design-related events taking place around the world. Plus occasional updates and invitations to Dezeen events.

News about our Dezeen Awards China programme, including entry deadlines and announcements. Plus occasional updates.

We will only use your email address to send you the newsletters you have requested. We will never give your details to anyone else without your consent. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email, or by emailing us at [email protected] .

For more details, please see our privacy notice .

You will shortly receive a welcome email so please check your inbox.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of every newsletter.

Intelligent construction specification, in the cloud. Work together on specs in real-time, across organisations and locations

Plans and features

A range of subscription options to make NBS Chorus work for you

Scope and Contents

NBS Chorus covers multi-discipline content, see all the content libraries available.

Book a demo

Sign in to NBS Chorus

The construction product information you need, when you need it

Browse by category

Not sure what you're looking for? Browse for manufacturer products by category.

Browse by manufacturer

Not sure what you're looking for? Browse by manufacturer name

For manufacturers

Building product manufacturer looking to get your products listed and power up your marketing? List your products here.

Go to NBS Source

A dynamic and unified classification system for the construction industry covering all sectors

Articles and updates

Catch up on the latest updates to Uniclass as well as the latest articles and case studies

Specifying with Uniclass

Get started with using Uniclass in digital specification

Feedback and Support

Join our community forum where you can search existing queries as well as reach out to our support team

Find a code

Other services

See our full range of tools and services for specification and collaboration

Construction Information Service (CIS)

A comprehensive online collection of construction related standards, regulations, technical advice and articles

NBS Schumann

The new specification writing and consultancy service from NBS

Use NBS to develop information-rich 3D models that are fully coordinated with linked specification information

The latest articles and guides from NBS subject specialists and construction industry contributors

Case studies

Find out how our customers use our software and services

Subscribe to the newsletter for the latest news and events from NBS

The latest findings from NBS tracking key insights into the Construction Industry

Building Safety Act White Paper New

Driven by a comprehensive survey of hundreds of construction professionals, highlights a concerning lack of consensus and clarity among industry leaders.

Sustainable Futures UK Report 2024 New

Brand new for 2024, this report offers valuable insight for all construction professionals, painting a picture of sustainability in the construction industry

Digital Construction Report

Our 12th report on digital construction and BIM - find out the latest technology trends among construction professionals.

Helpful tools, and downloads to help you make the most of NBS

Sample Specifications

Download sample specifications and see what's possible with NBS Chorus

Financial Summary

Download a sample financial summary and see what's possible with NBS Chorus.

Sustainable Specification Guides

A five-part sustainable specification guide serving as a living, sustainability-focused document.

Thinking about moving NBS Chorus? Discover the benefits of moving to a digital specification platform.

Our Support pages are designed to help you get the most from NBS services

NBS Academy

Hands-on learning, delivered in a format that suits you.

Downloads and updates

Download the latest versions of our software and find out about the latest updates to content

We’re connecting construction information, working towards a better and more sustainable industry

Meet our talented industry experts working together to cultivate a great culture

Our history

Follow our journey through five decades with our dedicated timeline

Sustainability

Helping our customers design and build a more sustainable built environment whilst setting our own sustainability targets to contribute to a greener future for all.

We’re looking for people with a wide range of skills and experiences to work right across our business.

NBS work with reseller partners across the globe to deliver NBS products and services locally

All the latest NBS and industry news and stories

Peckham Library revisited

The Will Alsop-designed Peckham Library won the 2000 Stirling Prize, wowing the judging panel with its ‘eye-catching’ design. We revisit the library to see how it was built and to remind ourselves of the design ethos behind its Alsopesque features which include the now familiar wonky columns, cantilevered floor spaces and pods. And we ask, 12 years on, does the library continue to have that ‘wow’ factor that so impressed the 2000 Stirling Judges?

Key learning:

• Alsop’s design ethos
• Engineering the cantilevered overhang
• The building’s various cladding materials
• Visitor experiences and how the library is perceived by its users
• The role of architecture in terms of regeneration
• Maintenance and designing out vandalism

About the contributors

George Wade is an architect who has worked with Will Alsop for 10 years on projects including Fawood Childrens Centre and Bradford Bowl. In October 2011 Alsop set up ALL Design, a multi-disciplinary studio, with Scott Lawrie within Alsop's creative hub Testbed1 in Battersea. George is currently working on the design of a bus station in Toronto, an extension to Alsop's RIBA award-winning Blizard Building in London, a pod hotel and a series of prototype street kiosks.

Martin Spring is a freelance architectural journalist and writer. During his 38 year career in architectural journalism, he served 31 years as architectural editor of Building magazine and five years editing Architectural Design. Over that period he has won acclaim in an Honorary RIBA Fellowship and 33 national awards and commendations. He is currently writing books and booklets and appearing in films about prominent architects and the building industry.

Disclaimer: NBS TV programmes are the intellectual property of RIBA Enterprises and it shall be a breach of this right to copy, or in any way exploit commercially or show in public any of the programmes without the express permission of RIBA Enterprises.

The information contained in the programmes is not intended and accordingly shall not be relied upon either as a substitute for professional advice or judgement or to provide legal or other advice with respect to any particular circumstance. riba enterprises accepts no responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the information contained in the programmes..

What is BIM? | Building Information Modelling 09 September 2021 | by Dr Stephen Hamil Learn about the core elements of building information modelling (BIM), and find out why it's so important for construction projects. BIM (Building Information Modelling) Video Read more

NBS and Autodesk - the story so far 21 August 2019 | by Dr Stephen Hamil In 2016 it was announced that NBS has become the first UK organisation to become an Autodesk Solution Associate. Both organizations have been working closely together to develop the next generation of information and knowledge management solutions. BIM (Building Information Modelling) Design and Specification Standards and Regulations COBie Classification IFC Video Read more

Producing coordinated project information in a digital world 30 July 2019 | by NBS Working digitally to a standard process will help transform the construction industry. This article is an adaption of a recent presentation on the main stage of Autodesk University London taking an in-depth look into this topic. Case Studies Design and Specification BIM (Building Information Modelling) Construction Products Uniclass Classification NBS Chorus Video Read more

What actions for construction in the Industrial Digitalisation Review interim report? 08 August 2017 | by Richard McPartland The government's review of industry digitalisation has set out a number of opportunities for productivity gains in an interim report. We explore the preliminary findings and ask what they mean for construction. BIM (Building Information Modelling) Design and Specification Video Read more

0345 456 9594

© NBS Enterprises Ltd 2024. All rights reserved.

• For Manufacturers
• NBS Chorus and Data Security

Peckham Library.

Will Alsop made a name for himself with bold, even eccentric, designs, so when Southwark Council commissioned him to design a new library as part of the regeneration of Peckham Square they knew to expect colour, shape and texture from the structure.

A Stirling Prize-winning library of steel and concrete, renowned for its innovative form

With suspended ‘pods’ which protrude through the roof and a propped, cantilevered ‘horizontal block’, its idiosyncratic aesthetics defined the building’s make-up, and had to be carefully considered by us in the design stages. It was particularly crucial to ensure that the design met the aspirations of both the architect and its future patrons, so we upheld ongoing communication between all parties throughout the process. Remarkably, given the limitations of technology at the time, we also developed a prototype BIM system, producing a collaborative 3D model alongside the architects.

Its emphasis on a connection with the community is manifested in the shape of the building. The library is raised 12 m above the ground to provide its users with impressive views of London, and also offers a paved plaza below, creating a ‘circular hub’ for pedestrian access.

We made a statement with its materials, with green sides of pre-patinated copper and multi-coloured structural glazing on the main elevation. Spectacular when back-lit, the design lays bare the function of the interior.

To achieve support for the horizontal block, we specified a structure incorporating long-span steel trusses connecting to the concrete-framed main block. The cantilevered block is then supported via a system of inclined steel tubes rising from ground level and connected to the main floor plate and upper roof structure.

The curved pods provided study spaces, as well as natural ventilation. We considered a variety of material options including sprayed concrete and composite plastics, but settled on timber-framed microlam. This achieved a balance between budget and ease of manufacture and minimised the load bearing onto the cantilevered structure.

2002 Civic Trust Award

2001 BCIA Special Award for Social Contribution

2001 AIA London / UK Excellence in Design Award

2000 RIBA Stirling Prize

2000 RIBA Award

2000 Millennium Special Products Award

2000 Copper in Architecture Award – highly commended

Home Projects Peckham Library.

• Gender equality

We use cookies to offer you a better experience and analyse site traffic. By continuing to use this website you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy .

• About the prize
• Sponsors & Partners

Peckham Library and Media Centre

The library takes the form of an inverted L-shape with the horizontal level block, raised 12 metres above the ground, supported on one side by raking angled columns and on the other by the vertical block.

At ground level, a new public space is created below the overhang of the building, which in summer will accommodate open-air events. In addition, the cantilevered block provides shading to the south-facing main façade. Two-metre-high stainless steel LIBRARY letters, an orange beret sunshield projecting over the front of the building and the apex of two interior pods puncturing the roofline contribute to the building s dramatic silhouette.

The horizontal block contains the building s centrepiece - the main lending library - and the children s library to the north side. The five-storey vertical block houses the lobby, entrance foyer and information area at ground level, with a multimedia centre and staff administration on the upper floors. The naturally lit double-height space of the main library is dominated by three ovoid pods on stilts, two of which puncture through the building s roofline. The pods, which house a children s activity area, African Caribbean literature centre and meeting room, are accessed by a spiral staircase from the library floor or a bridge walkway from the vertical block. The front elevation and soffit are dressed with an undulating mesh screen and the south, east and west walls are clad in pre-patinated copper with recessed framed green and blue glass windows set flush with the copper face. The north and south elevations facing the vertical block are clad with clear and brightly coloured glass.

Peckham library has been designed to minimise the need for mechanical systems and fossil fuels by maximising the use of natural energies. The vertical block is naturally ventilated through the curtain wall. In the deep double-height areas of the library, air is drawn in from beneath the soffit to create a stack effect with air expelled through the pod skylight and clerestory drum. Efficient nighttime cooling is assisted by the exposed concrete structure of the vertical block.

By continuing to use the site you agree to our cookies policy . Accept

• Building search
• What is the AJBL?

If you’ve activated your online subscription to the AJ or you already have an account for the AJ Buildings Library, sign in below.  

Forgotten password? | Subscribe now

By continuing to use the site you agree to our Privacy & Cookies policy

AJ Subscribers

If you have not activated your subscription on the AJ website you will need to do so to access the AJ Buildings Library.

Subscribe today for immediate access to AJ Buildings Library, TheAJ.co.uk and The Architects’ Journal magazine.

Find out more about all the benefits of a subscription to The Architects' Journal.

For all queries regarding access to AJ online, please email our Online Help Desk at [email protected]

Peckham Library

Subscribe now to instantly view this image.

Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.

Already a subscriber? Sign in

James Morris ( website )     Download Original

• Photographs
• Development images
• Working details

Copper clad high-rise library featuring internal learning ‘pods’ and a two-storey cantilever 12 meters above ground level, supported on leaning steel columns with concrete infill and a bifurcated steel truss

The public library at Peckham, south London, completed late in 1999, is part of a concerted programme of regeneration and community growth for this part of the borough of Southwark and forms one element in a new public square. The architectural approach responds to a client brief which seeks to redefine the role of the library in the local community.

The Peckham model proposes that the 21 st century library should reach out to the community, encourage access to knowledge and embrace the diversity of the local population.

The Peckham Library is supported on concrete-filled steel columns, angled to form an irregular arcade which encloses a covered space, an extension of the new square.

External claddings are chosen for durability and for their expressive textures and colours, pre-patinated copper and steel mesh contrast with coloured glass (used on the north facade). The library itself is at fourth floor level, the short arm of an inverted 'L', with offices, meeting rooms and other ancillary facilities on the lower floors.

• Begun: Feb 1998
• Completed: Feb 2000
• Floor area: 2,300m 2
• Sectors: Civic, Education
• Total cost: £4.5M
• Address: 122 Peckham Hill Street, London, SE15 5JR, United Kingdom

Cantilever , Library , London , London Borough of Southwark , Open House 2014 , Open House 2015 , RIBA Award , Stirling Prize winner , Tall building , Working detail: Fit out , Working detail: Structure

Concrete , Copper cladding , Glazed facade , Steel columns

Professional Team

• Architect: Alsop and Stormer
• Project architects: Christophe Egret , Will Alsop
• Client: London Borough of Southwark, Education and Leisure Department
• Structural engineer: Adams Kara Taylor
• Quantity surveyor: Franklin and Andrews
• Services engineer: Battle McCarthy
• Main contractor: Sunley Turriff Construction
• Project manager: Southwark Building Design Services
• Acoustic consultant: Applied Acoustic Design
• Landscape consultant: Jenny Coe
• Lighting consultant: Concord Lighting
• More projects like this

• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Cookies Policy

Copyright © 2002-2024 EMAP Publishing Limited EMAP Publishing Limited Company number 7880758 (England & Wales) Registered address: 7th Floor, Vantage London, Great West Road, Brentford, United Kingdom, TW8 9AG

• Login / Register
• You are here: Buildings

Stirling Prize revisited – is Peckham Library still a winner?

26 September 2013 · By Tom Ravenscroft

1/15 The library poking above Peckham Hill Street. Photography by Tom Ravenscroft

2/15 photography by tom ravenscroft, 3/15 photography by tom ravenscroft, 4/15 large letters mark out the word ‘library’. photography by ben blossom, 5/15 the space under the overhang acts as a thoroughfare rather than a gathering space. photography by tom ravenscroft, 6/15 graffiti has been removed from some of the copper panels. photography by tom ravenscroft, 7/15 increased office space provided in the 2006 refurbishment made it necessary to install an air conditioning unit. photography by tom ravenscroft, 8/15 previously the afro-caribbean library, the central pod is now used as a quiet study area. photography by tom ravenscroft, 9/15 an unused pod on the second floor. photography by tom ravenscroft, 10/15 the busy reading room. photography by tom ravenscroft, 11/15 mesh to protect the south facade. photography by ben blossom, 12/15 london skyline viewed through the coloured glass in the stairs. photography by tom ravenscroft, 13/15 london skyline viewed through the coloured glass in the stairs. photography by tom ravenscroft, 14/15 london skyline viewed through the coloured glass in the children’s library. photography by tom ravenscroft, 15/15 photography by tom ravenscroft.

The success of Peckham Library has prompted Southwark to build two more new libraries. But how has the building stood up to 13 years of heavy use? asks Tom Ravenscroft

In 2000, Will Alsop’s Peckham Library became the first, and to date only, library to win British architecture’s highest honour, the Stirling Prize. Widely praised in the architectural press, the judges lauded the scheme as ‘one delight after another’ and called it ‘an extraordinary and innovative design’. As part of the £260 million Peckham Partnership regeneration project, Southwark Council asked Alsop to ‘create a building of architectural merit that would bring prestige to the borough and a welcome psychological boost to the area’. At the time the building was generally perceived to have achieved this. But 13 years after the AJ first visited ( AJ 30.03.00 ), has the building lived up to this high praise, met the day-to-day demands of its visitors and adapted to the changing role of the modern library?

Original criticisms of the building focused on the radical decision to elevate the reading room to the fourth floor, and the fear that the lack of a ground-floor ‘shop window’ would discourage people from visiting. This fear has proved unfounded. In the year ending 31 March 2013, Peckham Library received 457,512 visitors, three-and-a-half times the target of 12,000 visitors a month. Each time I visited over the past two weeks, the library was buzzing with people of all ages . Library membership at Peckham is above the borough average in all age groups, with three times as many 15 to 17-year-olds.

Librarian Eugene Atta explains that the library works because there is ‘so much space and local people value it, [as] they need space to study’. But the popularity of the library has meant the reading room is crowded. AKT II’s Hanif Kara, structural engineer for the original design, notes: ‘My regret is that I wish we could have made it twice as big’. The building is frequently adapted to meet the high demand for tables; for example during busy hours the second floor can be used as overflow study space. 

Advertisement

A £258,000 refurbishment last summer addressed this demand by adding tables and seating, introducing self-service technology and upgrading IT services. The central pod that stands in the reading room, which failed in its original role as the Afro-Caribbean library as it was not visible to users, has also been awkwardly commandeered as study space.

The distinctiveness of the landmark building has ensured that it has become well known, and if there was any confusion about its function, the word ‘library’ is written in giant letters on top of the building. This device has since been used on several public buildings, repeatedly by Henley Halebrown Rorrison including at the Akerman Health Centre ( AJ 07.03.13 ), and by FAT at the refurbishment of Thornton Heath Library ( AJ 16.09.10 ).

There were sensible justifications for placing the reading room above street level, not least that it freed up the site. However the main advantage of the arrangement, and a major success of the building, are sweeping views across the city that Alsop says ‘allow residents of Peckham to know that they are in London’.

Predicted access problems were also exaggerated. Although there are reports of regular lift breakdowns, Southwark environment and leisure manager Ashoke Chaudhury says that in his two years at Peckham, ‘both lifts have never been out of action at the same time’. And while I was at the library the stairs, with their spectacular views through coloured glazing, were a popular choice. An unintended benefit of the design, the naturally ventilated stair also helps with overheating in summer, when the door from the stair to the main library is propped open to increase air flow into the building. Although the library does receive complaints about heat, Chaudhury is keen to point out that ‘it is not so uncomfortable that people leave’.

Two other deficiencies mentioned by visitors are the lack of a café and insufficient parking. Although a café would be a welcome asset, the one-stop shop, which was expanded through the addition of a mezzanine level by Alexi Marmot Associates in 2006, draws many locals into the building to access council services; an airport-style queuing system testifies to the high demand - 402 inquiries a day. As for parking, the nearby Pulse leisure centre has disabled bays and in today’s sustainably-minded times, lack of parking provision on this inner-city site seems an intelligent move.

Unfortunately, the success of the building does not extend to the square in which it stands. The library draws many people through it; however they do not linger. The sheltered space created by the library is disappointingly dark, and acts as a thoroughfare rather than a public space. The most obvious sign of the library’s success can be found two miles away, where Southwark built a new library in Canada Water 11 years after Alsop’s opened. Southwark Council continues to commission respected architects to build libraries - earlier this year John McAslan’s £2 million Camberwell Library won planning - and this in an era when most local authorities are closing libraries.

According to Stephen Rigg, CZWG’s project director for Canada Water Library, which last year overtook Peckham as the borough’s busiest, Peckham Library has ‘raised the bar in terms of both architectural and social ambition for a local library’.

He believes the Southwark library team was motivated by what was achieved at Peckham and ‘obviously wanted to do it again’. At Canada Water, the reading room is again raised above street level, served by two lifts, and a larger budget (£14.1 million compared with £4.5 million) has allowed the borough’s latest library to incorporate a café and a theatre.

The library as an institution is at a crucial juncture, as lack of funding and advances in technology are challenging both buildings’ raisons d’être and their role in the community. Yet new libraries are still being built, and others adapted to meet modern demands - as this issue of the AJ is testament.

The aim of a retrospective reappraisal, or revisit of a building, is to learn from and build on lessons of the past, just as Southwark is learning from the lessons of Peckham.

Other councils might want to follow suit. Perhaps they should consider commissioning Alsop, who, despite his success in Peckham, has never been asked to do another library - surprising, given its Stirling credentials and that it has stood the test of time. According to the council, the library has ‘raised Peckham’s profile’ and ‘assisted the regeneration of Peckham’.

Alsop looks back at Peckham Library

Will Alsop gives his views on the building he designed 14 year’s ago

The environmental story

When it was completed in 1999, Peckham Library represented best practice in sustainability. ‘We didn’t need BREEAM or LEED, we just used common sense,’ says Chris McCarthy of Battle McCarthy, which was responsible for the building’s environmental engineering. Common sense informed the massing: the south-facing cantilevered upper floors screen the lower facade from excessive solar gain in summer, and the northern elevation provides good daylight deep into the narrow plan. Double glazing, good levels of insulation and natural ventilation mean that the library uses minimal energy for a building of its volume. Air conditioning was deliberately omitted.

But for McCarthy, the critical sustainability moves were lifting the reading room to create a sanctuary in the sky and forming the space below. ‘Connectivity is sustainability for Peckham. A low-energy shed on the ground wouldn’t have got the same footfall,’ he says.

Asked whether he would engineer the building the same way today, McCarthy responds, ‘Absolutely. Technology has moved on a bit, but you wouldn’t see the differences.’ He is nonchalant about the fact that the main reading room gets so hot in summer that the door is propped open for cross-ventilation. ‘As days get hotter and colder, people will turn up in T-shirts or in coats.’ Operable windows were located at a high level to enhance stack ventilation, but also as a security measure to eliminate the possibility of books being tossed out of windows.

David Jenkin of Alexi Marmot Associates was responsible for the 2006 refurbishment, which added a mezzanine to the one-stop shop. Jenkin observes that the library’s simple plan and elegant structure were relatively easy to adapt, but were not exactly ‘long life, loose fit’ because floor-to-floor heights did not permit horizontal distribution of new services, and there were no spare vertical risers. The introduction of cellular offices with more people and equipment necessitated the introduction of air conditioning, which is housed in a black-glazed cube behind the building.

‘We had blind trust in Will’s architecture and Will had blind trust in our engineering. He never wanted us to tell him what he already knew,’ says McCarthy. He continues, ‘Will always wanted the latest technology: the best performing glazing and the most efficient lifts. But he also wanted excitement. We could have drawn thousands of sections to show the light levels reflecting off the egg [the central pod], but Will drew the egg and it was the right shape.’

If he was designing Peckham Library today, McCarthy would propose vegetation as part of the engineering solution. He sees this as the way forward for today’s cities, and thinks Peckham Library would be an ideal venue to introduce affordable high-intensity urban farming: shrimp, fish, algae for cosmetics, food processing and fresh vegetables all year round. ‘Because of the fantastic success of the building, the plants would thrive on all that CO2. Plants should cohabit this success, and library users would come away with food and knowledge of urban farming.’

Hattie Hartman

comment and share

• Add to Bookmarks

You might also be interested in…

Making the most of what you have: Cockpit by Cooke Fawcett Architects

23 August 2024

Declining a developer’s offer to buy its 1960s former office block in…

Knight Architects-designed bridge between Germany and Poland opens

22 August 2024

A 266m-long rail bridge designed by Knight Architects with civil engineers Schüßler-Plan…

Secular and sacred: Westminster Coroner’s Court by Lynch Architects

21 August 2024

The renovation of the Grade II-listed Westminster Coroner’s Court on Horseferry Road…

GT3 designs sports, leisure and library hub in Northumberland

20 August 2024

The sports and leisure centre is designed to revive Morpeth’s town centre…

Most popular

• RIBA Stirling Prize 2024: bookies’ odds revealed
• Populous unveils visuals of world’s largest football stadium in Morocco
• BDP to revamp three major cricket stadiums in Pakistan
• Studio Weave gets consent for ‘deep reuse’ of Walthamstow museum
• Foster, Grimshaw, Woods Bagot and McAslan unwrap new Sydney metro stations
• Howells behind plans to convert Seifert’s Croydon tower into flats
• Glasgow Art Deco cinema approved for demolition
• Studio Egret West co-founder steps down after 20 years
• Celebrities urge Rayner to refuse ‘indefensible’ M&S Oxford Street demolition
• Modernist Somerset library with octagonal reading room listed

Leave a comment

Sign in or Register a new account to join the discussion.

Show Navigation

Head Office +44 (0) 1784 464 404

Edinburgh Office +44 (0) 131 370 7771

Close Navigation

• Aerospace, Airports & Aerodromes
• Auditoria & Conference Facilities
• Broadcast & Recording
• Building Services
• Construction
• Design, Construction & Commissioning
• Legal (Including Health & Safety)
• Major Projects
• Planning & Environment
• Public Sector
• Residential
• Sport & Leisure
• Specialist Support
• Workspace Environment
• Acoustic Modelling
• Airport Support
• Atmospheric Noise Propagation Mapping
• Auditoria/Public Spaces
• Automotive & Acoustic Test Facilities
• Building Developments
• Hospitals & Care Centres
• Measurement Services
• National & Local Government
• Office Fit-Out
• Specialist Buildings
• Specialist Studies
• View all projects
• Airports & Noise Action Plans
• Demolition & Construction Noise
• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Environmental Protection Act
• Exposure of Employees to Noise
• Health Care Development
• Industrial Noise in Residential Areas
• Noise & Vibration Measurement
• Noise from Neighbours
• Noise from Wind Turbines
• Planning Support
• Pubs & Clubs
• Residential Buildings
• Residential Development
• Meet the Team
• Accreditations
• Quality Policy
• £5m Peckham Library

Received 2000 Award for Architectural Innovation

Peckham Library, designed by Will Alsop from Alsop & Störmer, was opened to the public in March 2000. The building received the 2000 Stirling Award for architectural innovation. Together with the London Eye and the Tate Modern, Peckham Library also won the Civic Trust Award in 2002 for excellence in public architecture. It has proved to be a hugely successful building in use, and with over half a million visitors a year, by far the busiest of Southwark's lending libraries.

The library is a cornerstone in a major regeneration programme of the centre of Peckham that also includes a new town square, health centre, celebratory arch and new low rise housing. The building was designed to be striking, to make people curious about what lies inside, and to challenge the traditional view of libraries as staid and serious environments. This aim has certainly been achieved; the building is set in its own plaza, and is essentially a giant inverted "L", with the main public part of the library cantilevered dramatically eighteen metres across the plaza, supported by thin, spindly columns set at bizarre, diagonal angles.

Within the top two floors is the main library area which includes a dramatic double height space with three enclosed 'pods' comprising a meeting room, a children's activity centre and an Afro-Caribbean study centre. These 'pods' are elevated upon columns affording usable, accessible space below whilst providing private areas suitable for quiet study above the main library floor. Applied Acoustic Design worked closely with the Alsop team to specify a suitable external construction for these pods to minimise noise transfer to/from the main library. In order to control internal reverberation, minimise acoustic focussing effects due to the egg like shapes, AAD paid close attention to the selection of internal finishes to the pods. In the main library itself, the ceiling was designed to incorporate sound absorption to soften the acoustic environment, allowing media based activities to take place alongside areas that also require the traditional library "hush".

A further acoustic design challenge was the need to control potential noise from the busy public plaza space, which if left unchecked might disturb occupants in the lower two storey "leg" overlooking this space. This was achieved by ensuring acoustic finishes to the underside of the upper part of the 'L' were sound absorbent, a task that was aided by the use of a free form mesh screening in front of the affected windows. The opening window area (essential to accommodate natural ventilation) has also been carefully controlled, with appropriate levels of sound insulation specified for the glazing elements.

Return to the previous page

• BBC Broadcasting House
• New City Offices for Investment Bank
• City University, London
• Stafford Activity Centre
• £100m Richard Rogers K2 Scheme
• Cork School of Music
• Biggest Contemporary Arts Venue Outside London
• Lymington Community Hospital
• £18.7m Sandwell Academy
• East Thames Housing Association, Stratford
• £14.5m National Trust's Heelis Centre
• £10m Silent Wind Tunnel
• Didcot's £7.3m Arts Centre
• Croft Motor Racing Circuit & AAD Sport Noise Live
• First Permanently Sited Military Courtroom Complex
• 'Matter' Nightclub
• Ground Running & Airfield Maintenance Noise
• Godolphin & Latymer School
• Royal Automobile Club
• Hammersmith Academy

Head Office

Applied Acoustic Design The Green Business Centre The Causeway Staines-upon-Thames TW18 3AL

T: +44 (0) 1784 464 404

E: [email protected]

Edinburgh Office

Applied Acoustic Design 83 Princes Street Edinburgh EH2 2ER

T: +44 (0) 131 370 7771

E: [email protected]

Copyright © 2004-2024 Applied Acoustic Design

• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Client Login

Website Design Yeovil, Somerset by Aztec Media