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BRITISH LIBRARY- LONDON

LITERATURE CASE STUDY

ANQA PARVEZ
18ARC104
SEMESTER V
 INTRODUCTION
British Library, London is the national library
of the United Kingdom and the largest
library in terms of number of items
catalogued.
It was built in 1997 by architect Sir Colin St.
John Wilson, together with partner MJ Long
and their teams.
Sir Colin St John Wilson described the
multitude of functions to be accommodated
as: a day-to-day workplace, an institution that
embodies and celebrates national memory, a
storage of collections, places of study,
exhibitions of its treasures, an event-space
Fig 1, Drawing by Colin St. John Wilson, bl.uk
hosting lectures and seminars, and back-of-
house functions such as conservation
laboratories and administration.
DESIGN
Wilson was a British modernist architect,
strongly influenced by Scandinavian
design. His inspirations came from Finnish
architect Alvar Aalto and Swedish architect
Gunnar Asplund.
The whole design breaks down the
building into a number of parts, not only
to make a very large building look smaller,
but to give it variety and vitality which one
might hope for in a growing building.
The architect’s broad design intentions in
terms of composition of plan and
elevation can be summarised by three
phrases which recur in St John Wilson’s
public pronouncements about the
building and in his writings about
architectural theory and design.
Fig 2, commons.Wikimedia.org
DESIGN
The English Free School
While earlier generations of architects had been
preoccupied by strict classical symmetries, Wilson was
inspired by a group of 19th-century thinkers who saw
beauty in irregularity and asymmetry.
At the same time, Wilson subscribed to the modernist
philosophy that the form of a building should reflect its
function and the people who use it. Fig 3, Aerial view of Library, bl.uk

These twin influences can be seen across the British

Library in:
▪ The building’s irregular shape, which echoes
George Gilbert Scott’s St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel
next door.
▪ The clocktower, which is not merely decorative but
also a ventilation shaft, serving to air the five levels
of basement.
▪ The Reading Rooms, tailored for specific readers.
Fig 4, Clock tower, pinterest.com
DESIGN
Organic Architecture
Originating in the 20th century and
taking influence from Scandinavian
architecture, this style responds to the
natural world and the surroundings a
building is placed in.
For example, the use of natural
materials in the Entrance Hall, and the
building’s red bricks on the inside and
out, which blend in seamlessly with the
neighbouring St. Pancras Station and the
Renaissance Hotel.
Architects working in this style include
Fig. 5, e-architect.com
Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto and Hans
Scharoun.
DESIGN
The British Library as a ship
Prior to becoming an architect, Colin Wilson was a
naval lieutenant.
Influences from ships and the architects’ time in
navy is evident throughout the design. The
building, in elevation through gradually rising levels
as steps and the horizontality indicate the profile of
a cruise ship. Fig. 6, Porthole outside reading room, bl.uk

Circular openings or portholes, as seen in

ships, are present throughout the library to
give vantage points of the surroundings.

Wilson believed that visitors should be

able to navigate their way intuitively, and
that the portholes were an elegant way of
discovering the view.
Fig. 7, Model of British library, bl.uk
FLOOR PLANS

Fig 8, GROUND FLOOR PLAN, www.miesarch.com Fig. 9, FIRST FLOOR PLAN, www.pinterest.co.uk
SPACES
The building has a total floor area of over
112,000 sq meters spread over 14 floors:
nine above ground, five below.
The basement stores run 24 meters below
ground – the equivalent of an eight storey
building – and reach as deep as the Victoria
line (subway) which runs alongside them.
The diversity of space use in the library
(reading rooms, shops, exhibitions, cafes,
lockers, king’s library), makes it a communal
space, in addition to storing books and
providing access to information.

Fig. 10, Model of British library, commons.Wikimedia.org

ENTRANCE HALL
As the largest public building constructed in
20th-century Britain, the architect wanted
visitors to feel immediately invited as they
walked in, rather than taken aback by its sheer
scale.
To disguise the building’s true size, the ceiling
gradually rises in small increments through the
entrance, only once the centre of the Entrance
Hall is reached, one can get a full perspective of
the height of the Library.
This gradual-rising effect is also observed at the
roof of the building from outside. With its
layered design, reminiscent of Eastern temple
architecture, the roof has been compared to
Fig. 11, Entrance hall drawing by Colin St. John Wilson.
that of the Forbidden City palace complex in Pencil on paper, drawingmatter.org

Beijing.
ENTRANCE HALL
One of the most striking things about the
Entrance Hall is the way it is lit. Daylight pours in
from the skylights and the windows set into the
ceiling, and reflects off the floor.
Wilson relied heavily on natural light, which he
believed, not only keeps Readers awake but
keeps them in touch with nature: the time of the
day, the weather, the seasons.
With natural daylight being the main light source
in the Entrance Hall, there is a natural transition at
work in the continuation of the outside brickwork
and pavement in the Entrance Hall, and the use
of natural materials around the building:
travertine, oak, leather, brass and ebony. All this
blurs the boundaries between the inside and
outside.
Fig. 12, Entrance hall, Pinterest.com
READING ROOMS
The Reading Rooms devoted to the humanities
(e.g. the Humanities, Manuscripts, Rare Books
and Music and Maps Reading Rooms) were
designed for long periods of study. They sit on
the west side of the library where daylight is the
primary source of ambient light. It enters in from
the clerestory windows, bouncing off the high
ceilings and into the centre of the space,
without allowing direct sunlight to hit the
books.
Meanwhile, in the Reading Rooms to the east –
largely devoted to science and business
subjects – Readers were perceived to make
shorter visits to consult specific papers or
patents, therefore there is less seating than in
the rooms on the west side, with the majority of
Fig. 13, West Reading room, bl.uk
the space being allocated to journals, abstracts
and patents, laid out on open-access shelving
which Readers can help themselves to.
KING’S LIBRARY
King’s Library houses the books
collected by King George III, is
displayed entirely and separate from the
rest of the library. It’s a six storey ‘Tower
of knowledge’ which appears to soar up
from the basement into the public areas
of the library.
Protected by special layer of UV filter
glass and bronze, and with shelves full
of leather and vellum bindings, which
combined with the ultra cool
environmental control system, helps
maintain optimum light, temperature
and humidity levels.

Fig. 14 , www.pinterest.com
BUILDING MATERIALS
As the Library was built to last a very long
time – 250 years – brick was chosen as it is the
one material that in the climate, improves in
appearance rather than degenerates over
time. The red color also matches with the
neighboring context. 10 million bricks were
needed to complete the whole structure.
Fig. 15, Leather handrail, bl.uk

As the floor rises, the surface changes, the travertine floor

and brickwork of the Entrance Hall give way to softer
carpet and wood on the higher levels where the Reading
Rooms sit. In this way, the building is ‘living’, giving cues to
its visitors that they’re progressively moving towards an
area of quiet and contemplative study.

The handrails inside the lifts, on doors and around the

library are wrapped in leather, resembling that of book
Fig. 16, Entrance Hall, www.e-architect.com bindings.
PRESERVATION SYSTEM
Since the library holds treasures of knowledge,
all of the storage rooms in the library are kept
under strict controlled environmental
conditions.
The bulk of it all is shared across four very cold
double-tier basement levels. Millions of books,
manuscripts, drawings and images etc, are
carefully arranged and coded in special
metallic pull-out bookcases.
Fig. 17, Basement storage chambers, mslibraries.blog.gov.uk

The most precious publications are stored in inert

chambers of nitrogen’ carbon dioxide and argon (to
protect against potential fires) because sprinkler systems
would destroy the medieval manuscripts.
Accessed only by trained staff the required reading
material is passed through barcoded red crate and
carefully placed into a series of conveyer belt and
paternosters until it reaches the reader.
Fig. 18, Basement metallic bookcases, e-architect.com
BIBLOGRAPHY
▪ Bl.uk, ‘Architecture and design of the British Library’ [Online] - https://www.bl.uk/about-us/our-
story/explore-the-building/architecture-and-design-of-the-british-library - [Accessed 16 January
2021].
▪ 2016 FABE Research Team, University of Westminister ‘Public Space and the role of the architect.
London modernist case study briefing- The British Library’ [Research Paper]- http://psarchitect.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/07/London-Modernist-briefing_British-Library.pdf - [Accessed 17 January
2021].
▪ Sherban Cantacuzino, 1 December 1978, ‘From the archive: British Library in London by Colin St John
Wilson and MJ Long’ [Archive] - https://www.architectural-review.com/archive/from-the-archive-
british-library-in-london-by-colin-st-john-wilson-and-mj-long - [Accessed 18 January 2021].
▪ Adrain Welch, 8 January 2020, ‘British Library Building, London Architecture’ [Online] - https://www.e-
architect.com/london/british-library - [Accessed 17 January 2021].
▪ Kerstin Sailer, November 2015, ‘The dynamics and diversity of space use in the British Library’
[Research Paper]-
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298719145_The_dynamics_and_diversity_of_space_use_i
n_the_British_library - [Accessed 18 January 2021].