Exeter College Library, University of Oxford Building, English Planning and Listed Building Consent, Architecture Images
Exeter College Library at the University of Oxford
24 Apr 2021
Exeter College Library
Architects: Nex?
Location: Oxford, England, UK

Nex and Donald Insall Associates have been awarded Planning and Listed Building consent to renovate Exeter College Library, Oxford. The culmination of two years of collaboration, the proposals combine a sensitive programme of restoration with considered improvements to the library?s study spaces and accessibility.

The library was constructed in 1857 by George Gilbert Scott, one of a number of his works at Exeter College. The Grade II listed neo-gothic building was built as a two-storey range with an adjoining lower annexe in an ?L? formation, around the college?s Rector?s Garden. It sits next to the 17th Century walls of Convocation House, the Grade I listed historic court room of the Bodleian Library, separated only by a sliver of ground between buttresses.
Key to unlocking the tight spaces of the existing library is a modest single storey block ? the Link block. Tucked between the party wall of Convocation House and the two wings of the library, the Link block has undergone many alterations over the past two centuries, with little original fabric remaining. What is presently a garden store and windowless strongroom provided the design team a pivotal opportunity to transform the circulation of the library. Through occup...