The Templeman Library development was featured in a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) presentation by the project architects Penoyre and Prasad.

Associate Suzi Winstanley presented ‘ThinkSpace – Perspectives on Architecture’, a practice-led research project examing the new demands on reader space facing the contemporary university library, and proposing and modelling prototype design solutions.

The contemporary university library faces a number of challenges, including changing study patterns, shift away from print towards digital dissemination, and ongoing proliferation of power-hungry digital devices. Traditional library interior design and furnishings do not meet these emerging requirements.

Architects have designed bespoke solutions which can be effective but suffer from high costs, low levels of R&D, and lack of scalability. Consequently, there is a clear creative and commercial opportunity to rethink and redesign interior settings for the contemporary university library as a typology.

The research emerges out of, and runs in parallel to, the Library’s extension and refurbishment scheme.

For more information, contact Julia Crompton.