London studio Wright & Wright has expanded the University of Oxford‘s Corpus Christi College Library, tucking a limestone-fronted extension into its original Grade I-listed site.
Named The Spencer Building, the 479-square-metre extension consolidates the library’s collection of rare manuscripts and books into a single home, while providing reading spaces and step-free access.
Wright & Wright has completed The Spencer Building at the University of Oxford
The Spencer Building is the first extension to Corpus Christi College Library since its founding in the 16th century. It replaces a 1950s garage on a constrained site between a medieval city wall and the listed facade of the college’s quad.
Wright & Wright fronted the extension with limestone cladding and a metal oriel window in a contemporary take on the surrounding fabric.
It is the first extension to Corpus Christi College Library in its history
“We wanted to design something that could respond to those constraints while still feeling calm and confident in its own right,” founder Claire Wright told Dezeen.
“A large ‘library window’ punctuates the facade, borrowing from the College’s distinctive windows that traditionally mark key social spaces such as the hall and chapel,” she added. “We hope it feels as though it’s always belonged there, even though it’s unmistakably of its time.”
The extension has a limestone facade
Inside the extension, the thermal mass of the city wall to the west was used to create stable, low-energy conditions for the archive space, which is wrapped by an entrance foyer, reception and special access reading room on the ground floor.
The concrete structure containing the archives played a large part in the building achieving Passivhaus standards, making it one of the first libraries in Oxford to receive the certification.
A staircase and lift in the entrance foyer provide step-free access to each floor. The Spencer Building’s first two storeys then provide a direct link to the adjacent Old Library, making its historic spaces fully accessible for the first time in their history.
The projecting oriel window at the front of the building pulls light into this circulation space and is flanked externally by two black drainpipes marked with golden owl motifs.
There is a skylit space beneath the roof
This layout freed up the eastern side of The Spencer Building’s first, second and third floors to house a stepped stack of reading areas culminating in a skylit space beneath the roof, with balconies overlooking the floors below as well as the garden quad beyond.
“The reading rooms are stacked across three levels within a single volume, so there’s always a sense of connection – you can see and feel the activity between floors,” Wright said. “Each level has a different character, from intimate individual carrels to larger, communal study tables, reflecting the range of ways students like to work.”
The extension links directly to the Old Library
As with the exterior, the internal palette of The Spencer Building was designed to both nod to the original college and be resilient, with “robust but warm” finishes in oak and brass used for the shelving and desks, alongside white walls and grey carpeted floors.
The project is not the first carried out by Wright and Wright for Oxford University, which previously redeveloped the historic St John’s College by renovating its libraries and quadrangle, and adding a new study centre.
Other recent projects by Wright and Wright include its overhaul of Lambeth Palace and the transformation of the British Academy headquarters.
The photography is by Hufton + Crow.
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