St John's College Library and Study Centre, University of Oxford

The new building, which adjoins the existing 16th-century library, located within the Grade I-listed Quadrangle, provides three levels of library and study space, a 50-person seminar room, a secure, climate-controlled archive for the college’s Special Collections, a new reception area and an exhibition space. We provided MEP, lighting and acoustics design services for the project.

The building is predominantly naturally ventilated throughout. Extensive thermal modelling allowed the correct glazing specification to be applied to each area, allowing for the architect’s vision of fully glazed roofs in the main reading areas without sacrificing the internal thermal or visual comfort.

The large expanse of the Great Lawn allowed for the installation of thirty 55m-deep boreholes to provide both heating and cooling. A detailed thermal analysis was undertaken to ensure that the boreholes would not adversely affect the ground temperature and grass of the Great Lawn, either in the immediate or distant future. Heating in most areas is via underfloor heating, with radiators or trench heaters installed in areas with larger heat losses to allow a lower and more efficient water temperature to be used

PV panels have been installed in all possible roof areas, carefully placed to not detract from the building form, when viewed from ground level. Controls have been centralised at the reception desk touchscreen panel to allow the librarian to effectively shut down upper floors when they are not in use, to avoid unnecessarily heating or lighting these areas.