History Faculty Library
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The staircase and gable wall at the southern end of the west wing. The reading room roof is on the right
Richard Einzig Download Original
A red brick clad, reinforced concrete L-shaped block containing staff rooms, offices, seminar rooms and common rooms for Cambridge University’s History Faculty Library
The two wings of the building are connected by the glazed pyramid of a reading room for 300 students.
The entrance/exit to the reading room opens directly into a control and enquiry area where the catalogues are housed. The book stack is on two levels and the shelving units fan radially on sight lines from the control-desk, which thus has total supervision of the reading room and book stack. The control desk is also a console from which heating, lighting and ventilation are adjusted.
The extract machines at the top of the glazed roof are also controlled from this desk. The reading room seating is either in specialist reading bays or at large tables in the main space. Beyond the bookstack there is a continuous bench top also for student use.
The design of the History Faculty building was the subject of a limited competition in 1963. The building was completed in 1968 and awarded a R.I.B.A. (Royal Institute of British Architects) Gold Medal in 1970.
Data
- Begun: 1964
- Completed: 1968
- Floor area: 2,300m2
- Sector: Education
- Address: West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9EF, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: James Stirling
- Project architects: James Stirling, Michael Wilford
- Client: History Faculty, Cambridge
- Structural engineer: F. J. Samuely & Partners Ltd
- Services engineer: R. W. Gregory & Partners
- Quantity surveyor: Monk & Dunstone Associates