Sheffield University Library
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Library to serve 2,000 students with 400 reading places and storage for one million books
The library is on a square plan consisting of a main deck above the university campus level on the east side and overlooking parkland on the west.
The main entrance is in the south-east corner. From the entrance hall, a wide staircase leads to the mezzanine and up into the catalogue hall at the centre of the building. Leading off the catalogue hall are the reading rooms.
The basement stack and the floors beneath the main reading-room are of reinforced concrete. The floors in the book stack are plate construction with no beams. The exterior is faced in Portland stone.
This is the first library in the UK to be designed with facilities for temperature, humidity and filtered air control. Lighting in the reading room is from fluorescent fittings. The catalogue hall has a corrugated plastic laylight, with fluorescent lights above.
Data
- Begun: Dec 1955
- Completed: May 1959
- Floor area: 4,500m2
- Sector: Education
- Address: Sheffield University, Sheffield, S10 2TN, United Kingdom
Professional Team
- Architect: Gollins, Melvin, Ward & Partners
- Client: Sheffield University
- Structural consultant: W. V. Zinn
- Heating and ventilation: G. N. Haden and Sons Ltd
- Electrical consultant: H. B. Leighton
- Quantity surveyor: Davis, Belfield & Everest