A new library and study centre for St John’s College Oxford, by Wright & Wright Architects, takes its cues from a neighbouring baroque ensemble of buildings
Wright & Wright Architects’ brief was to sensitively extend and refurbish the seventeenth century Laudian Library at St John’s College Oxford, without detrimentally affecting the grade-I-listed Canterbury Quadrangle, whose eastern range it forms, and doing so with a minimal carbon footprint.
A solution had been sought for decades to extend the library facilities, which had become wholly inadequate for the internationally-renowned institution.
ph: Hufton & Crow
A concealed passage –the consequence of a setting-out alteration four centuries earlier – offered a new discrete entrance at a point in the baroque ensemble that led to a space in the President’s Garden. Here the new building fits neatly but cannot be seen in relation to the iconic historic views. The solution was well-received by the client, planners and Historic England.
ph: Dennis Gilbert
The new library and study centre is linked to both the sixteenth-century Old Library and the Laudian Library, establishing a connection between Canterbury Quad and the College’s northern precinct and providing both a route and a destination. It responds to the baroque architecture of Canterbury Quad with geometrically-pronounced axes, layered spatial sequences and elaborate stone reliefs.
ph: Hufton & Crow
A zero-carbon strategy was achieved through the use of renewable energy sources – including a ground-source heat pump and photovoltaics – and passive means of environmental control, such as natural ventilation and generous roof glazing to admit ample daylight.
ph: Dennis Gilbert
High-performance windows
Polyester-powder-coated steel glazing systems manufactured by Schueco were selected for the windows and rooflights. These were triple-glazed with low-emissivity glass to reduce solar gain and achieve a U-value equal to or less than 1.0W/m2k, in order to meet stringent thermal performance targets. Window frames were detailed without beads and ‘over-glazed’ to reduce the visual impact of the frames when viewed from outside.
The seminar room incorporates a substantial corner window array that affords unobstructed views over the college’s gardens. Constructed using four-metre-high panes of glass, it utilises a modified version of Schueco’s ASS 77 system so that the corner can be slid open during warmer weather. All opening windows are operated by motorised actuators and controlled by a building management system, to maintain a finely-balanced internal environment while reducing heat loss.
ph: Dennis Gilbert
Oak joinery
A dark-stained European oak was used throughout the new building, echoing that found elsewhere in the college, particularly in the Laudian Library, the Old Library and the chapel. Its hardwearing and long lasting nature reduces maintenance costs and the need for replacement or renewal in the future. The oak is applied in both veneered panels and solid sections, sustainably sourced from mills in eastern Europe. It was sawn with a rift cut which is milled perpendicular to the log’s growth rings, to emphasise a straight grain and eliminate medullary rays. The joinery was executed by Neil Burke Joinery who had previously worked with Wright & Wright on other Oxbridge college library projects.
ph: Hufton & Crow
Clipsham stone
The external walls are predominantly clad in Clipsham stone, which forms an independent load-bearing skin, laid as ashlar coursing and tied back to a concrete frame structure. There is a long tradition of Clipsham limestone being used for Oxford colleges. The briefing envisaged a 450-year-plus life for the building and details for stone fixings, weatherings, sills, copings and drips were developed through workshops and discussions with the stone masons, in order to minimise the need for cleaning and potential replacement or refacing of the stones in the future.
ph: Hufton & Crow
Stone Drawing
On the west facade of the Study Centre there are three independent overlapping stone walls which have been CNC milled to an intricate design by the artist Susanna Heron. They screen views into a private garden, while admitting light into the President’s Garden. A shallow reflecting pool at their base is granite lined, and acts like a small moat in separating the building and landscape
Before selecting a quarry, sample stones were CNC-milled to the artist’s criteria. Ultimately Stamford Quarry in Cambridgeshire was chosen as being able to supply the most consistent stone in terms of quality, which was also sufficiently robust for milling. The carved stone relief on the interior is a more shallow, mirror image.
ph: Hufton & Crow
Concrete
Concrete was chosen to construct the subterranean archive and plant room areas. This construction helped attain both water- and air-tightness to the new archives, while the concrete superstructure facilitated stone-fixing.
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