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Winner of the Stirling Prize for Architecture

Peckham Library is a library and community building situated in Peckham in south-east London, United Kingdom. It was designed by Alsop and Störmer,[1] engineered by AKT II and won the Stirling Prize for Architecture in 2000.[2]

The building is shaped like an inverted capital letter ‘L’, with the upper part supported by thin steel pillars set at apparently random angles. The exterior is clad with pre-patinated copper.[1][3]

The Stirling Prize judges approved the building’s approach. Alsop has taken the plan footprint of a conventional library and elevated it to create a public space beneath the building and to remove the quiet reading space from street level noise. The remaining, supporting buildings on the ground and 1st floors house the information and media centre.[4] The building has five floors in total, with the library service taking up the fourth floor.[3]

The library opened to the public on 8 March 2000, with an official opening by Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Chris Smith, on 15 May 2000.[5]

The building attracts over half a million visitors per year.[6]

SuperC [de], a student service centre building at the RWTH Aachen in Germany was built in 2006, which has been compared to Peckham Library with a similar L design.[7]

The library features diverse activities for both children and adults.

Images

  • The north facing rear façade of the building.
    The north facing rear façade of the building.
  • Exterior
    Exterior
  • View showing the diagonal columns
    View showing the diagonal columns
  • Interior view of meeting room pod
    Interior view of meeting room pod
  • Main library space
    Main library space
  • Main library space
    Main library space
  • View of central pod
    View of central pod
  • Similarly shaped building named SuperC [de] at RWTH Aachen, Germany
    Similarly shaped building named SuperC [de] at RWTH Aachen, Germany

References

  1. ^ a b Peckham Library : Architecture Information, e-architect.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-11-12.
  2. ^ Peckham Library & Media Centre Archived 11 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Open University website. Retrieved 2011-11-12.
  3. ^ a b Thornton, Victoria (2012). Open house London : an exclusive glimpse inside 100 of the most extraordinary buildings in London. London: Ebury. pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-0-09-194362-2. OCLC 800851973.
  4. ^ “PECKHAM LIBRARY | By Will Alsop, Adams Kara Taylor, London Borough of Southwark”. Archello. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
  5. ^ “PECKHAM LIBRARY”. Filmlands.co.uk Film & TV Locations in the UK and SPAIN. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
  6. ^ Lawrence, Eusebius Stanley (2022). “Enhancing community participation in the use of public libraries: case study of Peckham Library, London and Surrey Library, Canada” (PDF). Global Scientific Journals. 10 (5): 425–443.
  7. ^ “Super C”. charlie.aachen-tourismus.de. Retrieved 24 May 2026.