Kingham Hill School Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
Opening the Book's design and installation of our new School library were nothing short of fantastic. Their staff’s attention to detail and their understanding of the need to marry old and new were second to none, with the final product providing a modern twist which sat sympathetically within beautiful old beams. The fitters really cared about the aesthetics of the space and ensured that seams and joins were beautifully crafted. The designers worked with us through every part of the process to assist us in the selection of colours, furniture and shelving to ensure that we achieved the most from the space - the finished design is stunning, practical and welcoming. A pleasure to work with!”
Public Library Design Case Study:
Transforming the old chapel in a 19th century school into a contemporary, practical library was an exciting challenge for our design team this summer.
The brief was to create a highly flexible layout which would accommodate all the usual activities required of the hard-working hub of the school, plus the ability to easily transform the space for large group events.
Kingham Hill School’s redevelopment of the building included creating a mezzanine floor, providing space for informal seating as well as quiet study areas. This overlooks the ground floor where there is more relaxed seating and study, plus wow factor book display from our retail-style bookcases, featuring high quality, front-lit graphic panels.
View towards mezzanine (before and after)
View to the ground floor study/events space (before and after)
View to the ground floor study/events space (before and after)
Above: Our unique Byte and Orbit tables combine to provide ideal group study space.
Above: Informal seating and tempting book display provide a relaxed atmosphere
The first new library built in the County for 20 years meant expectations were high at Thame for the library service and politicians as well as the local community.
Opening the Book and Broadstock Office Furniture are working together on a 3-year project to transform Boots Library.
The new Library and Customer Service Centre at Risca is built as a modern extension behind the restored façade of the old Palace Cinema which had been derelict for many years.
Opening the Book was contracted to deliver an interior design which made the space lighter and brighter, implemented a successful transition from staff-led counter service to self-service via RFID and improved the customer experience for over 500,000 people visiting the library each year.
Opening the Book was first appointed by Mace to work with the architects, structural engineers, project managers, landscape architects, mechanical and electrical designers at Stages A-E of the planned new building.
Werneth School in Stockport has been in the fortunate position of being completely relocated into a new purpose-built home on the same site. As part of this, Opening the Book was invited to put forward a design for the new library.
Opening the Book first visited St Mary’s Church, Lichfield, in 2016 to consider the feasibility of the library being part of a larger refurbishment project.
This was a first for Opening the Book and gave us an opportunity to explore how we could bring the same aesthetic of integrating books and play that we bring to our public library projects into a very challenging, much more compact environment.
At Gateshead, Opening the Book created a successful MakerPlace in their existing Sound Gallery.
Opening the Book refurbished Gateshead Central Lending Library, including children’s and young adult areas, in 2009 so we were delighted to return to complete the work with a transformation of the computer and reference areas into the new Gateshead Archive.
Opening the Book refurbished Gateshead Central Lending Library, including children’s and young adult areas, in 2009 so we were delighted to return to complete the work with a transformation of the computer and reference areas into the new Gateshead Archive.
Opening the Book was excited to work with Doncaster MBC in creating the new Danum centre, bringing together the Central Library, the Museum and the Art Gallery to one site.