Human-centred design transforms a village library into a friendly, welcoming, and comfortable space that feels both exciting and approachable.
Chinnor is a large village of around 6000 people in lovely countryside at the foot of the Chiltern Hills. The small library building, shared with a family centre, is a focal point for the community. When developer and council funding was won to improve the building’s environmental footprint - including the installation of loft insulation and solar panels, lighting upgrades, and replacing heaters with air source heat pumps - the County Council’s library team knew that the interior refurbishment must match the quality of the building improvement.
Opening the Book was delighted to win the contract to create a modern and welcoming offer. Our design maximised the full-length windows for the children’s area and went high with shelving on the wall with very high windows. We created a great first impression where the shelving is curved out to bring books into the eyeline as you enter the library. This creates friendly alcoves – the first one houses stylish individual seats and the next one includes a table and chairs for activities. The library already had one of our iconic book tables - fondly referred to as ‘seagulls’ in Oxfordshire. Like all our furniture, it looked as good as new after years of use so gained pride of place to showcase stock at the entrance.
Our design works with the volumes of the architecture to create a sense of calm and wellbeing. We built a solid structure of dramatic trees to give height to the children’s area and also to emphasise the environmental theme. The reading dens have internal graphics which emphasise the two different shapes – a curled up sleeping baby fox and a young deer poised upright in a woodland. On the lower side of the building, we kept the furniture low to keep a feeling of airiness and to make the most of the windows; this is where computers and study desks with power are found.
The space is flexible for different uses at different times of day and can support all kinds of partner and community activity from health advice to creative craft sessions. There is space for activities; study; meetings; socialising; 1:1s; group workshops; digital helpers; parenting classes; talks and performances – everything which a contemporary library seeks to deliver. We provided additional tilt-top tables and stacking chairs on mobile trolleys to be stored in the back office and brought out for larger events.
For the lightbox and display furniture signage, we worked with local photographer Boom who was commissioned to take photographs of the village and surrounding area. We are also grateful to Boom for the high quality photos in our Project Gallery.
This design is human-centred. It is friendly, welcoming and comfortable with plenty of choice of where to sit and what to do. It is also exciting, without being intimidating, offering new opportunities for individual and collaborative learning.
It’s always a pleasure to work with Opening the Book as they understand the close relationship libraries have with their users and the difference it makes when local people are given something new with a truly local feel. With practical design, local artwork and inspirational touches like the tree shaped book nook for children to snuggle inside, Chinnor Library has something for everyone. We have seen a notable increase in visits from young families but have also welcomed back people who hadn’t visited for years who were delighted with their ‘fresh, new library’. It really is a transformation. Two years later it still looks utterly stunning!
Huge thank you - the library is absolutely amazing. The children's section was an absolute hit with the school, everyone loved the design and we heard lots of positive comments about everything including the 'grass verge' carpet and the red kite graphics. The feedback from Fiona's training session was great too.
