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Addressing Energy Efficient Lighting and Ventilation in Libraries: A Case Study of Peckham Library, London, UK

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2021, Global scientific journal

Lighting and ventilation are the main factors which influences the amount of energy consumed in a Library, as human comfort within a space requires a reasonable amount of light and airflow. Buildings that are not energy efficient require more mechanical/electrical devices to achieve thermal cooling in tropical areas and thermal heating for cold regions. In Nigeria, most buildings hardly take energy efficiency into consideration due to ignorance, poverty, lack of awareness and/or improper policy on building regulations by Government. But as a cultural service institution, libraries should take the initiative to protect the environment, rather than adding to the continuous degradation of the natural environment. Use of mechanical devices to attain thermal comfort in buildings is not only capital intensive but also generate greenhouse gases, air and noise pollution amongst others. Apart from the use of energy efficient lighting fixtures, Libraries should be designed to be energy efficient by providing large windows for natural ventilation and natural light. And provision of naturally ventilated open spaces such as court yards for proper airflow within the habitable spaces. This paper looks at measures to effectively reduce the amount of energy consumed in a Library, by reviewing the case study of Peckham Library; which was designed to be energy efficient by relying more on natural lighting and ventilation, rather than mechanical means. The data collected is structured, analysed and interpreted to understand practical ways on how energy efficient lighting and ventilation can be achieved in libraries. Therefore the scope of this paper aims at: Promoting energy efficiency in the design and construction of libraries.

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dr amira Elsonbaty

peckham library case study

International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology

International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology IJSRSET , Moses Iorakaa AYOOSU

In buildings, natural ventilation is for human comfort; for odour removal, body and the structure cooling. A previous study revealed that libraries in Nigeria could not function efficiently without artificial ventilation and lighting. Artificial ventilation, aside from economic disadvantages, it is not reliable and anti-sustainability while natural ventilation is reliable, consume less energy, and in other words, it is more efficient when compared with other types of ventilation. The research evaluates the application of passive architectural strategies for natural ventilation in libraries within the hot-humid climate of Nigeria, intending to recommend natural ventilation strategies in libraries. Ten (10) libraries were selected randomly in the study area from both institutional and public libraries. The research conducted using observation schedule, the variables in the research are; Window types, Clerestory windows availability, Door openings, Screen walls, Courtyard, Other openings, use of external shading devices and orientation of the library. The data analysed using descriptive statistic; the results presented using tables, bar charts and pie charts. The research revealed that 29% of the cases studied use external vertical structural shading devices, 36% use horizontal shading devices, 21% use both vertical and horizontal shading devices to deflect solar radiation and 14% do not use any external shading devices. 80% of the libraries studied was oriented toward north-south (NS) direction, while 20% oriented toward east-west (EW) direction. Therefore, the majority of the libraries studied have desired orientation; however, each lacks one of the passive cooling strategies. Adequate natural ventilation in the libraries is achievable by the proper synthesis of the building orientation, proper design of building internal spaces, the proper position of window openings and use of projected window as well as clearstory. More so, further study to enhance natural ventilation configuration for the study area is desirable.

IJAR Indexing

Climate change is real and felt globally. Climatic factors such as intense solar radiation, high humidity and condensation, dust and sandstorms and flood affects the comfort of man and safety of built environment. Most of the climatic changes are due to human activities in the environment, particularly the built environment. These suggest that human activities and physical constituents of built environment interact with other climate drivers. These prompt the need for response,and response to climate change falls into two phases-mitigating and adaptation. Therefore, this paper discusses how climate change can be mitigated through green architecture in Nigeria. In this light, the paper will be a conceptual paper.The library research method was used in this study to gather secondary data from textbooks, articles and journals to develop a conceptual framework on how green architectural practices can be used to mitigate climate change in order to sustain built environment in Nigeria. This paper adopts the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) (2015) principles of green building and sustainable site design. It highlights climatic changes and their effects in Nigeria. It further discusses the concept and principles of green architecture. The study concludes that Nigerian built environment is vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Therefore, there is need for architects, builders, engineers and clients to promote and adopt green architectural practices in order to mitigate the effect of climate change for sustainable environment.

The rapid population growth, associated urbanization, and infrastructure development resulted in adverse impact on the environment, which is becoming increasingly alarming and creating many challenges. These circumstances have made the concept of “Green Buildings and Sustainable Built Environment” a necessity rather than an option. This research studies and introduces the environmental considerations for green and sustainable architecture, it aims to identify the factors that affect green building design and sustainable urban development. It also defines various elements and procedures required to achieve a successful green design. Furthermore, the study classifies the main factors that drive the urban development in the Gulf region that can improve the energy efficiency and the quality of the built environment in hot countries, such as Saudi Arabia and similar climatic zones. The research methodology is based on case study approach to analyze and evaluate concerning environmental considerations. It combines observation and qualitative research methods. This research attempts to fill a gap in the literature concerning green built environment considerations in Saudi Arabia in particular and the Gulf region in general.

International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (IJIRSET)

Pratish Rawat

Currently, about 40% of the world's energy consumption is used in buildings. In India, with the improvement of living standards and the improvement of living standards, the energy consumption of cooling/heating in buildings is also increasing. The document presents a study based on a survey conducted in residential buildings in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. This survey was conducted to evaluate the influence of various parameters such as orientation, window/wall ratio, open areas around buildings, window areas exposed to direct solar radiation, planting, shading, natural lighting, energy consumption in summer and winter Wait. The results have been analyzed for thermal comfort conditions. Controlling this direct sunlight gain can be used as a measure to increase energy savings and thermal comfort. The method of controlling direct solar gain has been discussed in this document. Describes energysaving opportunities and makes recommendations. From the perspective of optimally designing new residential buildings, this research is useful and can also reduce the energy consumption of existing buildings through some simple measures.

European Scientific Journal ESJ

When designing schools, universities, or any educational centers, daylight in classrooms is usually one of the essential issues that take the architect's attention. Its importance comes from the fact that daylight can impact students' health, mood, and visual performance. Providing an appropriate amount of uniformly distributed light with glare protection is a significant factor in classroom design (Zomorodian Z S, 2016). This study is based on a literature review, studies, and articles researching the effect of daylight in a classroom environment on students' performance. It tends to define the significance of daylight design in the learning environment. This paper also deals with specifying and exploring all the conditions, factors, and elements that contribute to creating this successful daylight design in classrooms. Besides, it investigates the daylight design of the buildings at the campus of Sarajevo that will, later on, contribute to the creation of a design manual of all the considerations that need to be taken for schools and educational centers' daylight design. The study is conducted at the campus of Sarajevo in the academic year 2019. The literature review, data study, and previous studies define the significance of daylight in the classroom environment and show the correlation between daylight and students' achievement in the classroom environment. It defines the elements and conditions of successful daylight design in classroom settings. The study explored the current state of the daylight design at the campus of Sarajevo detecting its lacks and obstacles regarding adequate illumination. Based on the literature review, an appropriate solution for the investigated classroom environment has been designed.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CREATIVE RESEARCH THOUGHTS

Adithya Sainath , sangeeta das

This paper aims to find out the contributions of the day lighting system and to reduce the artificial lighting system are simultaneously taken into account. The concept behind this is that to increase the use of day lighting by sustainable strategies in order to decrease the amount of load in artificial lighting. Different typology of the building is taken into consideration to understand the amount of light we need in different workspace. It will be understand how to reduce artificial lighting by low-light fixture and fill the gap where day lighting is not possible to reach the working space. Daylight is important in a work space to make the indoor environment comfortable to work and more productive. So finding strategies to improve the day lighting helps in improving the indoor environment. Also, low-light fixtures are also there so that energy consumption is less and according to the typology and need of the building artificial lighting can be used in places where day lighting is not available.

One of the most important issues in sustainable development is energy saving. Static methods of heating and cooling buildings are one of methods of saving fossil fuels. In discussing sustainable development and therefore sustainable architecture, the obvious fact is that every building must interact with its surrounding natural environment. The controversial and significant aspect of this fact is manner of interacting and type of considered measures. In this study, stepped villages of East Azarbaijan, Iran were studied and Passive solutions in heating and cooling buildings were analyzed. Finally, data obtained in the two tables, which show the passive cooling and heating procedure in regional villages are presented. In this article, a survey – analytical methodology is used. Finally, the overall result was that renewable energies such as solar and wind were used as methods of creating thermal comfort in villages of the studied area and minimal use of nonrenewable energies has been made. Moreover, the south orientation of villages plays an important role in benefiting from the sunlight. Also, villages are located on a sloped ground, as a result of which parts of buildings are dug into the ground and the thermal mass of the earth is utilized as a source of comfort for residents. At last, the method obtained from the vernacular architecture can be used as a model in today modern architecture that maximizes the use of fossil fuels.

ishika agarwal

Journal of International Academic Research For Multidisciplinary (JIARM), ISSN: 2320-5083, Journal Impact Factor (2015): 1.625

Prof. (Dr.) Jayeshkumar Pitroda

A building that uses both technology and process, to create a facility that is safe, healthy, comfortable and enables productivity, well-being of its occupants is called intelligent building. With lots of energy crisis in today`s world, it is very important for architects, engineers and construction managers make buildings which are energy efficient, intelligent by its functions and usage, too. Technologies applied in intelligent buildings will improve the building environment and functionality for occupants, while reducing operational costs. An intelligent building has an implicit logic that effectively evolves with changing user requirements and technology, ensuring continued and improved intelligent operation, maintenance and optimization. It exhibits key attributes of environmental sustainability to benefit present and future generations. The notion of the Intelligent Building is the modern civil engineer's big idea of tackling these deficiencies. An intelligent building must be smart enough to vary the environment to suit the users and also to provide various means of communication or network regardless of whether it is internal or external. This paper provides a review of research era in the area of Intelligent Building.

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Architecture Revived -

Peckham Library, London

peckham library case study

William Alsop & Jan Störmer designed the new Peckham Public Library in London, England, winner of the 2008 Stirling Prize. It opened in 2000.

Angled steel columns support the inverted ‘L’ shaped structure, which is clad in pre-patinaed copper panels. The cantilever shelters an exterior plaza which is open to the public air yet removed from the noisy street. A red blobs appears overhead to indicate the blob-like nature of the interior. Wood “pods,” rather than rooms, organize the interior space. In the rear, planes of colored glass leave an unexpected and indelible element to the project.

‘The Elements’ by Duncan Hooson sculpture blobs into the Peckham Square, with the Peckham Pulse is a health and fitness centre facing the library like an architectural brother (shown below). The library has rejuvenated this run-down section of the urban city and will continue to do so by inspiring architecture of that area.

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peckham library case study

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Designing Libraries

Peckham Library, London

A welcoming community space in the heart of Peckham…

Peckham Library modern bookshelves

WF undertook the design consultancy and implementation for the refurbishment of this public library after the upgrading of its heating and ventilation system. The council took the opportunity to reassess their service needs and the needs of their diverse and multi-cultural community.

The building includes interesting architectural features that the project needed to complement and enhance.

The project included the upcycling and replanning of their existing shelving (provided originally by WF/previously Demco Interiors in 2000) in the adult area. This included the addition of engaging end-panel graphics to designate genres. These were designed to complement the muted colour scheme in the adult library.

We upgraded and increased the individual solo study spaces (with integrated power), located in several areas in the library, using accents of grey to tie into the overall aesthetic.

We added additional signage, to improve wayfinding around the space.

Using our Everna™ system we designed an updated modern facility to include shelving to promote browsing and borrowing, study places, reading dens, and cosy nooks.

The New Children's Library

peckham library case study

WF created a new fabulous large, dedicated Children’s library. This space, using the Everna™ system has a distinctive look and feel – deliberately different to the main library.

The shelving is a mix of 1500 and 1200 in a vibrant kiwi green to appeal to younger children, with plentiful display shelves and browser boxes. The Everna™ system incorporates a large double-width window den and a smaller cosy single den to encourage reading.

The scheme creates small nooks and zones, without compromising sightlines, to encourage children to explore and browse.

The New Young Adults Area

peckham library case study

To encourage more teenagers to visit and make use of the library service, a designated Young Adults area was integrated into a corner of the main library. This was located near the graphic novels section, known to be a popular ‘hook’ to encourage visits, and included a section specifically for revision guides and exam resources.

The Everna™ system incorporated a double-width window seating den and a single den integrated into the shelving. Whilst maintaining sightlines, the large den designates the space and provides a feeling of ownership, separate from the main library.

We worked with the library team regarding the layout, the function, and the aesthetic feel, providing visuals and colour boards to help the customer imagine the finished result.

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Will Alsop's Peckham library revisited

By Martin Spring , Martin Spring Martin Spring 2009-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

Will Alsop’s Peckham library

It won the Stirling prize, but many doubted whether it would ever win over the locals

Source:  Astrid Kogler

The front elevation, complete with giraffe-leg columns

The front elevation, complete with giraffe-leg columns

Students at internet-linked tables below the pods are not disturbed by traditional library users perusing the bookshelves

Students at internet-linked tables below the pods are not disturbed by traditional library users perusing the bookshelves

On the whole, the design has weathered its first nine years pretty well, except for some faint traces of graffiti

On the whole, the design has weathered its first nine years pretty well, except for some faint traces of graffiti

The only major attack was with an air rifle, but repairs could cost £48,000

The only major attack was with an air rifle, but repairs could cost £48,000

peckham library case study

Children are given the best treat of the building – a vast window wall offering a panorama of London

The entrance hall is cramped, municipal and offers no enticement to venture up to the library on the fourth floor

The entrance hall is cramped, municipal and offers no enticement to venture up to the library on the fourth floor

It won the Stirling prize, but many doubted whether it would ever win over the locals. Nine years on, Martin Spring went back to Will Alsop’s Peckham library to find out

Peckham library in south London can be read as a textbook case of signature architecture mobilised in the cause of urban and social regeneration. In the nineties, Southwark was the second most deprived council area in England, and Peckham was one of its worst areas. Housing was poor, unemployment high and the GCSE pass rate was a third of the national average.

So, the £6.75m library was commissioned by the Labour-run council as part of a £265m regeneration package for Peckham. The 2,500m2 building, designed by Will Alsop, was completed in 2000 and was greeted as an architectural wonder – albeit a bizarre one. It went on to win that year’s Stirling prize and a Civic Trust award two years later.

Now, nine years after completion, is the building fulfilling the goal set for it? Does it attract people from deprived backgrounds to the world of books, learning and education? Has it launched a generation of IT-orientated libraries? And has it acted as a catalyst for the regeneration of this rundown borough?

Well, we’ll come back to those questions. The first thing to say about it is that the building’s strangest and most in-your-face feature is also a fundamental handicap. By perching the library hall high up on the fourth floor, Alsop overturned the golden rule of retailing: display your wares as prominently as you can to pull in passers-by. In an area not noted for its love of scholarship, this could be a serious defect.

That said, this handicap has not prevented Peckham from becoming the most popular of Southwark’s 13 branch libraries. Over the past year, it has attracted 35,000 visits a month, more than its counterpart in the leafy suburb of Dulwich and 9% above the target set by the council.

Membership of the library is higher than the borough average for all age groups up to 44, and this popularity reaches its peak for teenagers, who record a 14% membership within the population of 15-to-19 year olds – twice the average in Southwark. This partly fulfils the vision of Daniel Olsen, the former borough librarian and building client, who argued that the only way to hook people as library users was to attract the under-10s.

The main library hall on the fourth floor is an expansive, double-height space punctuated by three of Alsop’s trademark pods: large gourd-shaped enclosures floating in the upper void. This weird arrangement combines 60 secluded study spaces below the three pods with light and airy areas for shelving and circulation.

From 9am, when the library opens on weekdays, the desks fill up rapidly with students and others looking for quiet study space with or without an internet-connected terminal. According to librarian Linda Foster, the 25 PC terminals record a 94% usage. Beyond that, she notes that a wireless broadband network was installed in 2006, and this has attracted a group of internet users who bring their own laptops.

“It’s calm, quiet and a big space,” says student John Salmon. He adds that the library is well stocked and staff are “very helpful”. Fellow student Cathy Asante also likes the spaciousness. But she also points to a deficiency: “Sometimes I’m here all day and I’d like something to eat, but there’s no cafe.”

As for the pods, these are not living up to their promise, even though their external patchwork coats of paper-thin plywood shingles remain fascinating and unblemished. The central one is an open mezzanine floor that floats like a dinghy over the library shelving below. It had been fitted out as an Afro-Caribbean library, but Foster says: “Books looked incongruous there, and people didn’t go up to visit it.” Accordingly, she brought the collection downstairs and refurnished the pod with four-square study desks, which also look incongruous.

Peckham has become the most popular library in Southwark. Over the past year, it has attracted 35,000 visits a month  

One of the two enclosed pods had been designated as a toddlers’ den reached from the children’s library by a narrow spiral staircase. But Foster keeps most toddlers’ activities in the lower library, which is, in any case, a more attractive space. The other pod is a slightly forlorn, bare, windowless meeting room lined in wood-chip wallpaper.

By far the most entertaining pods are a couple of study carrels just large enough to accommodate a brace of hobbits. They are housed in the compact local history library on the second floor, but history librarian Bob Askew finds them annoying as they get in the way of shelving and circulation.

As to the mystery of why the library hall should have been hoisted five storeys above pavement level, the answer is only revealed when you step out of the lift. Continuous windows stretch along its north and south sides, and these display breathtaking panoramas of London.

It is the children’s library on the north side that exploits the views to most exhilarating effect. From here, the London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Gherkin and the whole skyline of central London are on display. The clear-glazed double-height window wall also frames a vast amount of sky, and a random pattern of large panes tinted pale yellow, pink or blue add to the spectacle. Little wonder that Foster has all but abandoned the enclosed children’s pod.

Down at the building’s main entrance, the scene is glaringly different. The small door is cut out of a continuous, prison-like facade of wire mesh. The entrance lobby is cramped and municipal and offers visitors no enticement to view the splendours a short lift ride away. Even the award plaques from the RIBA and the Civic Trust have been hidden away.

These awards have spread the fame of Peckham library across the world. In recent months, Foster has received groups of visitors from Croatia, Nebraska and South Korea, and has even presented a paper at a conference in Singapore.

So is the library better known and more admired overseas than in its home neighbourhood? This is stretching things too far. In Building’s straw poll of visitors, most were attracted by architectural as well as practical matters. “It’s a building that draws young people like myself,” says Salmon, who adds: “It makes me less bored when I’m here.” Fodaay Kamara says: “It looks very wonderful from the outside, and it’s the same inside.” The strongest praise come from assistant librarian Lesley Palmer, who says: “I absolutely love it here. It’s like a spaceship and it’s always busy. I’ve been here four years and I don’t want to move to another library.”

After nine years of operation, what has been the impact of the library on the social well-being of Peckham? “The library is a beacon that pulls people towards it,” says its literary development officer, Sandra Agard, who reels off a series of the bookish events that helps this process. “Children and adults are proud to use this world-famous building, so it shapes the community.”

Southwark council is now ruled by a Lib Dem–Tory coalition, but it has not dismissed the library as the weird indulgence of a previous regime. Just the opposite: it intends to develop another library building as the centrepiece of regeneration of nearby Surrey Quays. An “iconic” building stands near the top of its published wishlist for this proposed library, Piers Gough has been appointed architect, and his design is shaped like an inverted concrete pyramid. So the free-thinking, rule-breaking spirit of Peckham Library lives on in inner-city Southwark.

Will Alsop vs the vandals of Peckham

How does Will Alsop’s outlandish chunk of look-at-me designer architecture stand up to the wear and tear and vandalism of the tough, gritty, inner-city district it stands in? The answer is not too badly on the whole, although with one glaring exception. A more intractable problem is that, being a special architect-designed building using non-standard products, it is difficult, costly and time-consuming to repair. The exceptional vandal damage and the repair problems are both exemplified in the window wall covering the entire north face of the building. In a savage act of vandalism, six of the storey-height double-glazed panels at ground-floor level were smashed, three of them by air-gun pellets. Putting a brave face on the incident, librarian Linda Foster says: “I’ve worked in buildings in leafy suburbs, where you find broken windows every Monday morning. Here it’s only happened once, but it’s going to be a big job to put right.” She then explains that glazed panels were no longer produced by the original supplier and instead had to be procured from France, while the tinted film had to be supplied by the original architect. Meanwhile the repair costs had risen to £48,000, and the unsightly smashed panels have remained untouched and open to view for several months. Alsop decided to protect the main entrance side of the building much more securely with a strong chain-mail of metal mesh (pictured). The side walls are clad above first storey height in green patinated copper panels, a few of which are blotchy after graffiti was removed by sandblaster. Another irritating maintenance problem concerns the recessed ceiling lights in the library hall. As the hall is a double-height space and access is restricted to a pair of passenger lifts and a narrow staircase, scaffolding must be laboriously erected to replace the light bulbs, and since the library is open seven days a week, this means overnight. But in its first year of operation, the library was closed for a week just for this single routine activity. These days, bulbs are replaced out of opening hours, but on the day of Building’s visit several bulbs had failed and were waiting for this occasion. Last year, Southwark council outsourced all maintenance and repair work to several private firms. Since then, even day-to-day maintenance and repairs are lackadaisical. Assistant librarian Lesley Palmer says the heating system is often out of action, and library user Birger Lindberg from Sweden is annoyed by lift breakdowns. “Every second week they don’t work,” he says. On the plus side, it is a relatively low-energy building with no air-conditioning, though librarian Foster concedes: “It is true that the library does get quite stuffy in the summer months.” Accordingly, standalone air-conditioning units were retrofitted in the two enclosed pods and the main staff office.

Changing rooms

The building’s innate adaptability is demonstrated by the One Stop Shop (above), which lies next to the lift lobby on the ground floor and dispenses all council services including Homesearch for people on its housing waiting list. The One Stop Shop is intensively used, dealing with 300 inquiries a day, according to manager Carla Walker. Accordingly, it was expanded in 2006 by 70% in floor area by adding a mezzanine floor, compact fit-out and air-conditioning designed by Alexei Marmot Associates. The building’s double-height space was able to accommodate the extra mezzanine floor, its robust reinforced-concrete frame designed by Adams Kara Taylor took the additional load without needing new foundations, and dead space below its escape-stair landing housed the new air-handling unit. Only the air-conditioning chillers could not be fitted into the original building and have instead been installed in a 2m high black box a few paces away.

Original print headline: ‘Peckham turns over a new leaf’

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  • £5m Peckham Library

Received 2000 Award for Architectural Innovation

Peckham Library, designed by Will Alsop from Alsop & Störmer, was opened to the public in March 2000. The building received the 2000 Stirling Award for architectural innovation. Together with the London Eye and the Tate Modern, Peckham Library also won the Civic Trust Award in 2002 for excellence in public architecture. It has proved to be a hugely successful building in use, and with over half a million visitors a year, by far the busiest of Southwark's lending libraries.

The library is a cornerstone in a major regeneration programme of the centre of Peckham that also includes a new town square, health centre, celebratory arch and new low rise housing. The building was designed to be striking, to make people curious about what lies inside, and to challenge the traditional view of libraries as staid and serious environments. This aim has certainly been achieved; the building is set in its own plaza, and is essentially a giant inverted "L", with the main public part of the library cantilevered dramatically eighteen metres across the plaza, supported by thin, spindly columns set at bizarre, diagonal angles.

Within the top two floors is the main library area which includes a dramatic double height space with three enclosed 'pods' comprising a meeting room, a children's activity centre and an Afro-Caribbean study centre. These 'pods' are elevated upon columns affording usable, accessible space below whilst providing private areas suitable for quiet study above the main library floor. Applied Acoustic Design worked closely with the Alsop team to specify a suitable external construction for these pods to minimise noise transfer to/from the main library. In order to control internal reverberation, minimise acoustic focussing effects due to the egg like shapes, AAD paid close attention to the selection of internal finishes to the pods. In the main library itself, the ceiling was designed to incorporate sound absorption to soften the acoustic environment, allowing media based activities to take place alongside areas that also require the traditional library "hush".

A further acoustic design challenge was the need to control potential noise from the busy public plaza space, which if left unchecked might disturb occupants in the lower two storey "leg" overlooking this space. This was achieved by ensuring acoustic finishes to the underside of the upper part of the 'L' were sound absorbent, a task that was aided by the use of a free form mesh screening in front of the affected windows. The opening window area (essential to accommodate natural ventilation) has also been carefully controlled, with appropriate levels of sound insulation specified for the glazing elements.

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Case Study: Peckham Library, London (UK)

library London l shape Bookend

Opened in 2000, this library designed by Alsop and Stormer is meant to attract people to a low class area of London. It looks like an inverted L Read More

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Peckham Library Case Study

Peckham Library

Peckham Library - The Facts

Location and Site: 122 Peckham Hill Street, London, SE15 5JR, England

Building Occupant Name: The Public, Mixed Office Space, One Stop Shop

Occupancy or Function Type: Library, Office Space, Catering Retail

Mixed Occupancy: Yes

Size (total sqm): 2,300 sqm

Number of Storeys: 5

Owner: Southwark Council

Architect: Alsop Architects Ltd

Engineer: Adams Kara Taylor (AKT)

MEP Engineers: Battle McCarthy

General Contractor: Sunley Turriff

Acoustics: AAD

Lighting: Janet Turner

Quantity Surveyors: S. Franklin & Andrews

Submission of Bid to Completion: 5 Years

Contract Awarded: 1997

Construction: 21 Months

Date of Completion: 2000

Cost of Construction: £5 Million (approx.)

Total Cost Including Interior and IT: £6.75 Million (approx)

Peckham Library - An Introduction

Designed by Will Alsop, it is the first library to ever be awarded the Stirling Prize.

Constructed on a budget of £5million, Southwark Councils instructions were to create a building of prestige for the local area which would aid with regeneration.

The library has been a huge success in beating annual visitor targets thrice, and has since undergone further refurbishment seeing upgrades in IT and additional tables and seating. Disproving critical theories that locating the reading room on the fourth floor would discourage visitors.

The design of the exterior is particularly bold, the copper cladding as a material choice is both dynamic and intriguing. In choosing a material which reacts with its environment, Alsop has ensured an ever-changing, self protecting facade. Not to mention the coloured glass panelling which impacts on the interior of the building in addition to brightening up the square in which it is situated.

peckham library case study

Peckham Library.

Will Alsop made a name for himself with bold, even eccentric, designs, so when Southwark Council commissioned him to design a new library as part of the regeneration of Peckham Square they knew to expect colour, shape and texture from the structure.

A Stirling Prize-winning library of steel and concrete, renowned for its innovative form

With suspended ‘pods’ which protrude through the roof and a propped, cantilevered ‘horizontal block’, its idiosyncratic aesthetics defined the building’s make-up, and had to be carefully considered by us in the design stages. It was particularly crucial to ensure that the design met the aspirations of both the architect and its future patrons, so we upheld ongoing communication between all parties throughout the process. Remarkably, given the limitations of technology at the time, we also developed a prototype BIM system, producing a collaborative 3D model alongside the architects.

Its emphasis on a connection with the community is manifested in the shape of the building. The library is raised 12 m above the ground to provide its users with impressive views of London, and also offers a paved plaza below, creating a ‘circular hub’ for pedestrian access.

We made a statement with its materials, with green sides of pre-patinated copper and multi-coloured structural glazing on the main elevation. Spectacular when back-lit, the design lays bare the function of the interior.

To achieve support for the horizontal block, we specified a structure incorporating long-span steel trusses connecting to the concrete-framed main block. The cantilevered block is then supported via a system of inclined steel tubes rising from ground level and connected to the main floor plate and upper roof structure.

The curved pods provided study spaces, as well as natural ventilation. We considered a variety of material options including sprayed concrete and composite plastics, but settled on timber-framed microlam. This achieved a balance between budget and ease of manufacture and minimised the load bearing onto the cantilevered structure.

2002 Civic Trust Award

2001 BCIA Special Award for Social Contribution

2001 AIA London / UK Excellence in Design Award

2000 RIBA Stirling Prize

2000 RIBA Award

2000 Millennium Special Products Award

2000 Copper in Architecture Award – highly commended

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Alsop’s Peckham Library targeted to be first 21st-century listed building

14 December 2022 · By Greg Pitcher

1/7 Peckham Library seen above the rooftops crop

Source: Kim Haddon

2/7 Peckham Library at night

Source: All Design + Roderick Coyne

3/7 The library poking above Peckham Hill Street. Photography by Tom Ravenscroft

4/7 riba stirling prize 2000 winner: peckham library by alsop & störmer.

Source: James Morris

5/7 Large letters mark out the word ‘library’. Photography by Ben Blossom

6/7 peckham library, london by alsop and stormer, 7/7 alsop sketch for peckham library.

Source: All Design

Campaigners have demanded Grade II* status for Alsop & Störmer’s 2000 Stirling Prize-winning Peckham Library, a move that could make it the first 21st-century building to be listed

Heritage group the Twentieth Century Society submitted a formal application for Grade II* heritage protection for the quirky south London library on stilts after proposals were filed to add new plant to its rooftop.

Its director Catherine Croft said: ‘Peckham Library radically redefined what a library was, putting accessibility and nurturing a community at the heart of its mission, with innovative and playful architecture that makes it a distinctive, much-loved landmark.’

A planning application led by Southwark Council interim principal facilities manager Sue Cooper seeks consent to install air source heat pumps on the building roof.

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The two units would be 1.9m and 1.7m high and surrounded by a 10m-wide, 2.5m-tall acoustic screen. Planning documents say they would save more than 50,000kWh of carbon per year and ‘not be visible from street level’.

But the heritage group insists the proposals would dampen the ‘heritage significance’ of the building, ruining important long-range views of its ‘highly characterful’ roof. The body has called for an alternative location for the low-carbon plant.

Its call comes a month after Alsop & Störmer’s 1997 La Frégate café on Jersey was Grade II listed, making it a rare example of a protected building less than 30 years old.

The society said it was turning its attention to a number of buildings funded by the Millennium Commission in the late 1990s and designed by leading architects of the era.

The race to be the first listed Millennial building is ON! @C20Society leading the charge. https://t.co/vMZbg76F6p — Oli Marshall (@OliMarshall85) December 13, 2022

‘With many of these buildings soon to be reaching the 30-year threshold – one of the key criteria for national listing – the Twentieth Century Society is increasingly focused on researching and reviewing this period, to identify the most outstanding contributions to the built environment as the 20th century made way for the 21st,’ it said.

Croft added: ‘La Frégate is Alsop at his most frivolous, and while Peckham Library may look similarly light-hearted, it’s an intensely serious building with bold social ambition, deliberately turning its back on the past. Now this provocation of history is history itself.’

Peckham Library won the Stirling Prize in 2000, just months after it was finished. Alsop died in 2018 .

In response Catherine Rose, cabinet member for leisure, parks, streets and clean air, said: 'We are extremely proud of the iconic, bold and playful design of Peckham Library. We are working to make sure that the building is maintained and cared for, so that future generations of library goers can benefit from all it has to offer, both functionally and aesthetically.

'To which end, we are replacing existing gas fire boilers with heat pumps and refitting the heating and cooling systems within the library. This switch will make the library more energy efficient. It will also help to maintain more consistent temperatures across the site, resolving ongoing problems with faulty ventilation that saw some areas overheating during summer months and others without heating in the winter.'

Rose added: 'The heat pumps are being purposely placed in the farthest position, away from the edge of the roof. Their casings will be painted to blend in with the surroundings. Alternative locations would make the pumps more visible from the ground and the south side of the roof already houses a fair amount of vital equipment that can’t be moved.

'We have carefully considered the visual impact of the heat pumps and photographed the projected changes from a number of locations. This work shows us that the pumps are not out of character for any building and will only be visible from a handful of locations, some distance away from the library.'

Alsop sketch for Peckham Library

Source:All Design

Alsop sketch for Peckham Library

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As an industry we can Ill afford another own goal in the environmentally dangerous stand-off between heritage and sustainability. If the energy saving projections were sound, Will would have welcomed this adaptation. He would have made a highly visible and playful statement with the housing for the heat pumps and seen the design challenge as additive rather than unfortunate.

Peckham Library is a seminal piece of architecture and was a highly creative and progressive development of public library design and civic space. It would be appropriate to List it Grade II *. However as with all listed buildings, the opportunity for appropriate and creative renewal should be welcomed, especially if this is sustainable. The library is a wonderful asset to the Peckham community and to Southwark Council who own it outright. It is much loved as a south London landmark and well used as a valuable public facility.

(I offer these comments with deep knowledge and fond memories of the project. I was Will’s project and site architect for the Library, working on the design and delivery for over 3 years together with a talented team of fellow architects, engineers and specialist contractors. Will’s genius created the concept design, the developed design and execution was a huge team effort, that was happily rewarded with the Stirling Prize.)

I therefore agree with the 20th Century Societies proposals for Listing and protecting the building. However I also agree with my ex-colleague Max’s point that Will would have seen the environmental need to adapt the building as a positive design opportunity.

I therefore urge Southwark Council to reconsider their proposals and engage a talented design team capable of doing justice to the unique quality of Peckham Library and the legacy of Will Alsop.

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    Introduction. Peckham Library is a library and community edifice situated in Peckham, southeast London. Peckham Library opened to the populace on 8 March 2000, with an official gap by Mr. Chris Smith, secretary of State for civilization, media and athletics. The library was designed by Mr.