Description

The Millennium Library, located in the center of Norwich, is a part of the complex known as the Forum. Built in 2001, it replaced the Central Public Library that was destroyed by fire in 1994. In the rebuilding process, the library sought to reinvent itself as a part of a larger institution, one that is described as “a cultural and recreational building for the whole community and is a dynamic center for information, learning and entertainment.” (“The Forum”) In doing so, this 4,621 m² facility, a small public library by size, takes on the persona of a large public library through this extension of shared scope.

Set in the heart of the medieval city, the Forum is a three-story horseshoe-shaped building surrounding a central space. Forming an enclosed courtyard, an exposed steel structure sits within curved U-shaped walls of handmade, load-bearing brick. The flat facade is fully glazed and provides visual access to the atrium with its glazed roof and bow-string, steel truss supports.

The trusses form petal-shaped panels, alternately infilled with acoustic materials or glazing through which light enters the atrium. As part of an environmental strategy for a low-energy building, the building mass is used as a “’passive’ environmental modifier” with the introduction of “‘active’ building engineering systems, which serve only to assist the fabric to recycle ambient energy.” The Millennium Library is a state-of-the-art public facility serving a population of 800,000. It is noted for its special collections, an extensive picture collection of Norfolk, and a special collection in memory of the American Second Air Division USAAF, which served in Norfolk during World War II. As part of the Forum, a complex which houses not only the library but also the Norfolk Heritage Centre, the regional studios of the BBC, a tourist information center, learning shops and various cafés, restaurants and bars, the library has seen a dramatic increase in use – a byproduct of the millions of visitors and tourists to the Forum each year.

The decision to become an integral part of the Forum is the result of in-depth public focus groups and studies conducted in the process of rebuilding the library. The discussions established the need to reinforce civic life as a path towards “regeneration, education and lifelong learning.” A reexamination of library goals to fulfill such a need concluded that while the provision of traditional information resources was important, access “to collective social spaces where communities can flourish” (“Libraries Must Also Be Buildings?”) was equally vital. As part of the Forum with its iconic horseshoe form, mall-like image and proximity to broadcast studios and pizza parlors, the Millennium Library is better able to accomplish this goal. But, in doing so, it relinquishes an identity, perhaps outdated, of the unique civic institution of the library.

“The Forum”, Norwich. Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, 1 Kemble Street, London WC2B 4AN. http://www.cabe.org.uk/case-studies/the-forum

www.theforumnorwich.co.uk

Jared Bryson, Bob Usherwood, Richard Proctor, “Libraries Must Also Be Buildings? New Library Impact Study”, The Centre for Public Libraries and Information in Society, Department of Information, University of Sheffield, March 2003, p. 28

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Originally published in: Nolan Lushington, Wolfgang Rudorf, Liliane Wong, Libraries: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2016.