Bedford School Library
Eric Parry Architects won an invited RIBA competition to design a new library building for Bedford School and was appointed in January 2001. A sequence of spaces within the library progress from the informal lobby housing the newspapers and journals, through to the quieter study areas facing the garden. From a single front elevation the building splits into two wings.
To the south is the quiet study area with a seminar room above. To the north is the two storey library with a mezzanine accessed by stair or lift. The library was officially opened in January 2004 by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, and was awarded a Mention in the National Design Awards by the Civic Trust, 2005.
“Where the existing school environment relentlessly asserts a collective identity over individual experience, the library proposes a rather more human vision – one grounded in a historical continuum certainly, but generous enough to accommodate other, quintessentially contemporary needs – intimacy, responsiveness and even that most underrated of architectural virtues – doubt.”Ellis Woodman, Building Design
Summary
- Project name: Bedford School Library
- Client: Bedford School
- Location: Bedford
- Completion Date: 2003