Canada Water Library

London

The idea of a free standing object in space is quite appropriate for a library, since it is a portal to the discovery of other worlds. As a piece of sculpture it binds together a tube station, a stretch of open water and a plaza and makes the precursor landmark of a substantial new development on London’s Canada Water. The inverted pyramid form contains a readily accessible café, performance space, internet points and popular books within a small footprint at ground level, whilst the expanding shape above enables the containment of the main library within a single, galleried, skylit double volume. The whole is clad in aluminium sheets, anodised a light bronze with sequined perforations.