This image The architects wanted to create space through rooms and galleries, with a motif of reaching towards the light
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PROJECT 3
New Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge
Newly opened and with a long list of accolades to its name, Magdalene College’s New Library shows how architects can engage in thoughtful design intended to last centuries
WORDS BY EMILY MARTIN
IMAGES BY NICK KANE
NÍALL MCLAUGHLIN ARCHITECTS was appointed to design Magdalene College’s New College Library in Cambridge through a competition held in 2014. The new building replaces cramped and poorly equipped facilities in the adjacent Grade 1 Listed Pepys Building with a larger library, incorporating an archive facility and a picture gallery. The new building, which is sited in a highly sensitive historic setting, has been hailed a huge success with a string of accolades, including the prestigious Stirling Prize Winner 2022, alongside others including RIBA National Award 2022, RIBA Regional Award 2022, Civic Trust Award Winner 2022, Wood Award in Education Category and Gold Award 2021 among others. The building is approached through a little doorway and out under an old yew tree. From this shady corner you sense the presence of the river opening out at the edge of the lawn. ‘We wanted to make the building a journey that gradually rose up towards the light,’ explains Níall McLaughlin Architects. ‘On the way up there would be rooms, galleries and places to perch with a book. At the top, there would be views out over the lawn towards the water. We wanted to create a variety of ways for someone to situate themselves depending on inclination. You might sit in a grand hall, a small room, or tuck yourself into a tiny private niche.’ The materiality and form of the new library are derived both from its context and from the college’s brief to make a highly durable and sustainable building. The older college buildings are of load bearing brick, with timber
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