Canada Water Library

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Canada Water Library by CZWG, 2012
Surrey Quays Road, Southwark
London, September 2014

“In response to Southwark Councils brief, CZWG’s key challenge was to design a space which would accommodate the distinctly different requirements of the main users groups - adults, children and young persons in a building where the floor area required for the library space was far larger than the available footprint for the building on the given site. The design of the new library needed to avoid multiple levels which would have cut off the interaction between the different user groups and also demanded a higher level of staff to service the library. CZWG’s solution to this problem was to create an inverted pyramid for the overall form of the building. Besides allowing for the main library space to be on one floor – this design solution also positively responded to other design considerations such as minimising solar impact on the south elevation which needed big windows to enjoy the views over Canada Water basin. The diagonal wall also reduced the external envelope area (the diagonal wall is less than the sum of a vertical wall and a horizontal soffit) and also catering for the requirement for raked seating in the community performance space.” (Canada Water Library, ArchDaily)