Projects About Thinking News Contact
Back to Projects

Weston Library

Location
Oxford, UK & Europe
Status
Completed
Year
2015
Experience
Education
Interiors
Heritage
Cultural
Awards

RIBA Stirling Prize Shortlist 2016

Civic Trust Award 2017

AJ100 Building of the Year 2016

AJ Retrofit Awards Listed Project 2016

Oxford Preservation Trust Awards 2015

At the heart of Oxford’s historic core, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s 1940s, Grade II listed, New Bodleian Library (now known as the Weston Library) is once more a vital resource for academic research. WilkinsonEyre was appointed to refurbish the library as a new, outward facing, cultural and intellectual landmark.

The idea was to open the building, allowing more public access and engagement with the resources and activities inside. New exhibition and seminar spaces were created to draw upon the extraordinary resources of the Bodleian’s collections.

The design works with the grain of Scott’s robust design, reinvigorating the space with an improved circulation diagram – for both book retrieval and user movement – and creating several contemporary interventions, including a spectacular reading room at roof level.

Scott’s New Bodleian was never designed as a public building – it was essentially a storage facility, focused entirely on the bookstack and its contents. In 2010 the University opened a new storage facility at South Marston near Swindon and with some of the bookstack space at the New Bodleian freed up, WilkinsonEyre celebrated its heritage by designing voids up through the building that frame the central bookstack volume, bringing in daylight in a controlled way.

While the project is strongly focused on improving storage and research facilities inside the building, it also offers an opportunity to boost the library’s relationship with its unique urban setting in central Oxford’s historic core.  A new public entrance loggia addresses Broad Street, connecting Weston Library with an important series of major University buildings – Sheldonian Theatre, Radcliffe Camera, Old Schools Quadrangle and Clarendon Building.

Design Development

Related
Battersea Power Station
WilkinsonEyre are the architects of the major restoration and repurposing of the iconic Grade II* listed Battersea Power Station.
Battersea Power Station, Heritage Approach
Sebastien Ricard, project director of Battersea Power Station, describes the conservation philosophy and approach to restoring one of the most recognisable buildings in the UK.
State Theatre
WilkinsonEyre has been appointed to revitalise the Grade I listed State Theatre building, as well as the design of a new adjoining mixed-use development.
Get in touch with us
  • info@wilkinsoneyre.com
  • press@wilkinsoneyre.com
  • newbusiness@wilkinsoneyre.com
  • London

    33 Bowling Green Lane
    London EC1R 0BJ
    United Kingdom

    T +44 (0)20 7608 7900 info@wilkinsoneyre.com
  • Hong Kong SAR

    13/F China Hong Kong Tower
    8-12 Hennessy Road
    Wan Chai, Hong Kong

    T +852 2110 8055 asiapacific@wilkinsoneyre.com
  • Sydney

    201 Kent Street
    Sydney PO Box R55
    NSW 2000, Australia

    T +61 02 9247 07 40 australia@wilkinsoneyre.com
Instagram LinkedIn Twitter
Privacy Policy
  • Design TM
  • Development morphsites