Main Library, University of Birmingham

Following their appointment to the project, Associated Architects undertook a feasibility study to assess the original 1950’s library. Unfortunately, the building was out of date, inefficient and unsuitable to the modern needs of the university, so the project team determined a brand-new structure should be built.

Internally, the user took centre stage with the design and layout ensuring increased space, lighting, accessibility and circulation. Externally, the focus was fixed on a sleek and contemporary aesthetic that reinforced the user experience while creating a landmark structure for the city.

The facade is coated in a blue-grey ceramic cladding plus anodised aluminium gold fins, which have been installed vertically to add dynamic texture. Additionally, the building utilised linear brick on the very ground level in a blue-silver colour to match the ceramic cladding used. The long format wirecut option easily continues the modern visuals that surround it, showing its varying colour when it catches natural light.

Though demolishing an existing building to replace it with something new could be seen as working against sustainability, the team at Associated Architecture made the energy efficiency of the new library a top priority.

Following consultations with sustainability experts, solar panels were installed alongside LED lighting and automated window blinds to boost the library’s energy efficiency. Integrated solar shading, which adjusts throughout the day, was also introduced to maximise natural light while preventing overheating.

This dual solution resulted in a 65% reduction in energy being required to heat the new library when compared to the old system. Bigger than its predecessor by over 1,000sqm, the new space also uses 3,688 less kwh of electricity each year.

As a result of these sustainability practices, the new Main Library building received an BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, and the former library site is being repurposed into a 12-acre Green Heart parkland.

As a natural clay product, the brick added to the building’s sustainability credentials due to their decades-long of life expectancy, recyclability, high thermal mass and low embodied carbon when compared to many other facade materials.

Brickability were proud to supply the linear bricks used on this momentous project and were particularly pleased to see its design and sustainability achievements recognised when the new Main Library at the University of Birmingham was shortlisted in the RIBA West Midlands Awards.