John Rylands University Building

The library wanted to ‘unlock’ the space, and they entrusted us with finding the key. The resulting project has indeed ‘unlocked’ the Rylands, but it has done so by the back door. Which is not to say quietly or unnoticed.

In this case the ‘back door’ is a five-storey extension, replacing an existing 1970’s storage facility, that transforms the whole feel and approachability of the Rylands by making of itself an unmistakeable and most modern new entrance, complete with a genuinely awe-inspiring atrium, a reception, a café and a shop, plus wheelchair and buggy access and new toilets, including baby-changing facilities.

With its clear glass frontage, no one could say on passing they were not aware of its role as a public space, not now. Now they are clearly welcome. And over 80,000 visitors in the first year since reopening underlines the difference it has made. But this is a success because it is far more than a new entrance, café and shop. The project involved a thorough overhaul of the workings of the library, including an integration of a restoration project with the new building to make the transition between old and new seamless.

The entrance simply introduces what is to come: the real star of the show, which is of course the old building itself. The result is – as the visitor books confirm – a ‘tasteful’, ‘sympathetic’, ‘fantastic’ juxtaposition of modern and classic, where the experience of entering through the new elevates the experience of the old.