The New Library at Magdalene College in Cambridge wins RIBA Stirling Prize 2022
The New Library at Magdalene College in Cambridge has won the most prestigious prize in architecture - the Stirling Prize.
Designed by Níall McLaughlin Architects, it was described as an “exemplary model to aspire to” by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as it named its 26th annual winner.
The library - which the Cambridge Independent toured in advance of the award announcement on Thursday evening (October 13) - is the first substantial addition to the 700-year-old University of Cambridge college’s main site in more than 50 years.
Described as “exquisitely detailed”, the building features a library open 24 hours a day, an archive and an art gallery.
It replaces the rather cramped study spaces offered by the adjacent 17th-century grade I listed Pepys Library, while extending the quadrangular arrangement of buildings and courts that have developed from the monastic college site.
Speaking on behalf of the 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize jury, RIBA President Simon Allford, said: “A unique setting with a clear purpose – The New Library at Magdalene College is sophisticated, generous, architecture that has been built to last.
“Creating a new building that will last at least 400 years is a significant challenge, but one that Níall McLaughlin Architects has risen to with the utmost skill, care and responsibility.
“The result – a solid and confident, yet deferential new kid on the college block.
“The light-filled, warm-wood interior lifts spirit and fosters connections. Students have been gifted a calm, sequence of connected spaces where they, and future generations, will be able to contemplate and congregate, enjoying it both together and apart. The overarching commitment to build something that will stand the test of time can be felt in every material and detail, and from every viewpoint. This is the epitome of how to build for the long-term.
“Well-designed environments hugely improve student success and wellbeing. They should be the rule for all students and teachers in all places of learning, not the exception.
“As universities across the world work hard to position themselves in an ever-growing higher education marketplace, investment in great buildings is essential. This is an exemplary model to aspire to.”
RIBA judges noted how Níall McLaughlin Architects combined “load-bearing brick, gabled pitched roofs, windows with tracery and brick chimneys that animate the skyline with contemporary sustainable design elements to create a building that will stand the test of time”.
The institute said it “contrasts openness with intimacy; and deftly achieves the architects’ vision for a structure that gradually rises up towards the light”.
It features a triple-height entrance hall, leading to a central, double-height reading room, and the regular grid of brick chimneys supports the timber floors and bookshelves.
Warm up is carried up to ventilate the building and between each set of four chimneys, there is a large, vaulted lantern skylight.
Above is a connecting passageway, along the building's eastern end, offering views across the college and gardens and towards the river.
The judges noted how the New Library features a range of spaces, from wide zones for reading rooms and group study to narrow zones for staircases and bookcases.
There are spaces for independent study, with desks set into bay windows, hidden in private niches and within shared zones.
RIBA was impressed by the “simple but highly effective passive ventilation and natural lighting strategies to minimise energy in use, and materials such as engineered timber structure to reduce carbon embodied in its construction”.
The architects were tasked with creating a building that would last at least 400 years.
Architect Níall McLaughlin said: “The Magdalene College Library is a work of many hands and many minds.
“The college created the possibility for success in the way that they initiated and managed the project. The appointment of designers, consultants, builders, and craftsmen was treated with care.
"Throughout the development process, our team was supported and robustly questioned in our decisions. We knew we were building for a client who was motivated to achieve the best outcome. Our responsibility to the history and future development of this learning community was clear. We were asked to build for the long-term using present resources wisely.
“This is the first time a college has won the Stirling Prize. It is good to celebrate the contribution these remarkable communities have made to the development of modern architectural culture in Britain.”
Dr Marcus Waithe, college librarian at Magdalene, said: “Magdalene College’s New Library fulfils an unusually challenging brief: to erect a building at the edge of one of Cambridge’s most historically sensitive sites, and to do so without committing
an intrusion. The college wanted to avoid mere pastiche, or a passive ‘blending in’. It needed to be an inspiring structure – one that would encourage our undergraduates to aim high – that still preserved a human scale. As if that were not difficult enough, it would combine a working library with an archive centre, and the Robert Cripps art gallery. The result succeeds on all these fronts and more. We are grateful to Níall McLaughlin architects, and to all those who contributed towards the funding and construction of this already much-loved library.”
Family business Wedd Joinery, based in Stapleford, was responsible for the joinery work, while the building contractor was Cocksedge.
The New Library beat the following shortlisted projects to the prize:
- 100 Liverpool Street by Hopkins Architects
- Forth Valley College – Falkirk Campus by Reiach and Hall Architects
- Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road by Henley Halebrown
- Orchard Gardens, Elephant Park in London by Panter Hudspith Architects
- Sands End Arts & Community Centre in London by Mæ
The jury for the 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize was Simon Allford (RIBA president and chair), architects Glenn Howells (founder of Glenn Howells Architects) and Kirsten Lees (managing partner at Grimshaw), and artist Chris Ofili. The jury was advised by sustainability expert Smith Mordak (director of sustainability and physics at Buro Happold).
