Designed by Níall McLaughlin Architects, The New Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge, has been crowned the winner of the 26th RIBA Stirling Prize, the first time a college has been given the award.
RIBA described it as an “exquisitely detailed new building,” which provides students at the historic college with a 24-hour library, incorporating an archive and an art gallery.
The new library replaces the adjacent 17th century Grade I listed Pepys Library and extends the quadrangular arrangement of buildings and courts. Níall McLaughlin Architects combined load-bearing brick, gabled pitched roofs, windows with tracery and brick chimneys that “animate the skyline with contemporary sustainable design elements to create a building that will stand the test of time,” said RIBA.
“It contrasts openness with intimacy; and deftly achieves the architects’ vision for a structure that gradually rises up towards the light.”
The “elegant” brickwork facade and “enticing” large wooden doors were praised by judges, as was the tiered, timber interior. A triple-height entrance hall leads into a central double-height reading room. A regular grid of brick chimneys supports the timber floors and bookshelves and provides stack ventilation. Between each set of four chimneys, there is a large, vaulted lantern skylight. A connecting passageway above, along the building’s eastern end, provides views across the college and gardens and towards the river.
“The grid structure delineates an attractive array of spaces: wide zones for reading rooms and group study, and narrow zones for staircases and bookcases.” The layout also creates a range of study spaces for independent study.
“This is a modern building that employs simple but highly effective passive ventilation and natural lighting strategies to minimise energy in use, and materials such as engineered timber structure to reduce carbon embodied in its construction.”
Commenting on the building for the jury, RIBA president Simon Allford said: “The New Library is sophisticated, generous, architecture that has been built to last. Níall McLaughlin Architects has risen to the challenge with the utmost skill, care and responsibility.”
He added: “Well-designed environments hugely improve student success and wellbeing. They should be the rule for all students and teachers in all places of learning, not the exception.”
Winning architect, Níall McLaughlin said: “This is a work of many hands and many minds. The college created the possibility for success in the way that they initiated and managed the project. The appointment of designers, consultants, builders, and craftsmen was treated with care. Throughout the development process, our team was supported and robustly questioned. We knew we were building for a client who was motivated to achieve the best outcome.”
College librarian at Magdalene College, Dr Marcus Waithe, added: “The New Library fulfils an unusually challenging brief: to erect a building at the edge of one of Cambridge’s most historically sensitive sites, and to do so without committing an intrusion. The college wanted to avoid mere pastiche, or a passive ‘blending in.’