Crawshaw Architects has given a new twist to traditional library architecture with this re-invented out-building in Dorset, UK. Adjoining a Grade II-listed Georgian farmhouse and water mill, the new library is housed within a transformed former cowshed and farm equipment store. Architect Aidan Crawshaw, the London-based studio’s founder, was commissioned to transform a substantial portion of this long brick building into a library and office space, with the intention on creating a home for a substantial collection of historic books on Palladian architecture.
Crawshaw, working with his colleague Pandora Dourmisi, chose to preserve the proportions and form of the original farm building. The library is based around a long central arched nave flanked by a pair of aisles containing the book stacks, a modern interpretation of classical proportions. These not only reference the Palladian book collection but were constructed using carpentry and metal-working methods that hark back to the building’s days as part of a working farm.
The internal volume was increased by removing a few original trusses and replacing them with new equivalents, as well as digging down to increase the ceiling height. Three new roof-lights allow daylight to cascade down into the stacks and modulate the depth perception of the room.
At one end, the new office retains the original pitch of the roof, while a perfectly symmetrical French door with arched fanlight sets up a vista back down the length of the library.
The solid oak arches and columns used throughout are slender and elegant, with the vertical columns forming part of two reading desks and a low bench. The oak is paired with black steel external windows and simple white painted walls. A new kitchen has been added adjacent to the entrance hall and the detailing throughout is meticulous but modest, with new joinery paired with antique fixtures and fittings from the client’s collection.
From the outside, the cowshed retains its original character, offering little hint of the treasures contained within. This is a small jewel of a building, with its emphasis on minimalist craft, natural materials and perfect geometry evoking the grandeur and atmosphere of a much larger space. §
