Urban design

In pointing out the importance of good urban design CABE sets out to define what that entails: ‘By good design we mean design that is fit for purpose, sustainable, efficient, coherent, flexible, responsive to context, good looking and a clear expression of the requirements of the brief’ (CABE, 2006b, 5).

Those who are planning and designing a new public library need to bear in mind its place as a civic building, while academic libraries need to be at the hub of college or university activity. In addition to supporting their ever developing collections and needs, it is essential that libraries are close to pedestrian traffic and public transport. The external library space should be free of cars but there needs to be provision for disabled access and facilities for the storage of bicycles.

Most libraries will have a public ‘front’ and a service entrance, the latter often at the rear or underneath the building. The public entrance is often a space where users gather together immediately in front of or outside the door itself. It should be a place where users can meet, chat and take short breaks. Therefore it can be helpful to design it in a similar way to a public mall, with attention to landscape design, seating and personal safety.

The entrance doors themselves need to be wide and transparent; as soon as they arrive, users should be able to see, and feel invited into, the interior of the library. It should also be possible to view the major library spaces from the outside; too frequently the demands for security interrupt the physical and visible flows between the inside and outside worlds.

Life expectancy of different functions of the building

Buildings are comparatively permanent, while the organization and activities within them are continuously changing. ‘Shell and core’ describe the building envelope, its structure and ‘skin’ (walls and columns), and its servicing elements (stairs, lifts, lavatories, lobbies, ducts and plant rooms).