New iconic library building planned for Manchester Met University
Manchester Metropolitan University has submitted a planning application for a new library at All Saints on Oxford Road.
The iconic design by architects Hawkins\Brown and Schmidt Hammer Lassen will create a new gateway to the University.but also “digitally enabled teaching and research facilities” with flexible break-out spaces.
It will be the home to the Manchester Poetry Library, the North West’s first public poetry library and house a new gallery and event spaces designed for both public and University use.
Professor Karen Moore, chief operating officer at Manchester Met, said: “As an ambitious University, we are committed to providing a truly modern campus here in the city centre for our students, colleagues and the community.
“The library plans demonstrate our continued commitment to invest in impactful research and outstanding education, adding to the exceptional facilities and extensive redevelopment that has taken place across our campus over recent years. The new library will reimagine what a university library can offer and will build on Manchester Metropolitan University’s rich 200-year history of education and research.”
Christopher Seviour, Partner at Hawkins\Brown, said: “We were very conscious of designing a ‘living library’ where the book collection is only one of many services offered so that it gives students a reason to stay on campus and make the most out of their university experience. We have enjoyed collaborating with Schmidt Hammer Lassen to fuse the best of Mancunian and Scandinavian design sensibilities.”
Elif Tinaztepe, Principal Partner at Schmidt Hammer Lassen, added: “We reimagine the future library for Manchester Met as a dynamic landscape for making, reflecting, and innovating – a truly inclusive cultural space where students, academia and the city are invited to gather around shared interests to address the issues of the future.
“We wanted the building to communicate a generosity of spirit. Spaces of different character and identity flow naturally into one another, inviting the students to explore and curate their own experience on each visit. Working with the University, exploring Manchester Met’s unique place in the wider realm of academic libraries and how this might be reflected in the design has been a truly inspiring process.”
In recent years the University has completed the Institute of Sport on Oxford Road, the School of Digital Arts, the Arts and Humanities Building on the south side of All Saints Square, while work is currently underway on a new Science Building and the pedestrianisation of All Saints.
If the planning application is approved, work will start in summer 2024 with full completion by 2028.
