New school library in an apple orchard
The London office of architects Woods Bagot has just completed the new library for St Mary's Calne School, incorporating the adjacent apple orchard.
16 Feb 2021
Photo: Will Pryce
St Mary’s Calne, Wiltshire, is a girls boarding school founded in 1873. This is a two-storey library facility designed to reposition the library as the centre of the school’s academic and social life.
Each storey has a distinct purpose and specified zones. While the ground floor is meant to be lively, aimed at group projects with direct access to the neighbouring orchard, the upper level is designed for more formal focused, individual study.
Structurally, the support beams connect to the undulating underside of the roof, giving the impression of branches, emulating the apple trees incorporated into the space.
To optimise the spaces available for learning and reading, conventional shelving is dismissed. Instead there are study booths, display zones, and shelving within the interior walls.