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Saturday, 25 March 2006 | Levent OZLER
British Library Opens New Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurs
The new Business and Intellectual Property Centre at the British Library was officially opened on 9 March following its recent refit by Eldridge Smerin. James Purnell MP, Minister for Creative Industries, DCMS launched the evening, followed by an open Q&A with leading entrepreneurs including Doug Richard of Library House and Dragons Den as well as Tim Waterstone, Founder of Waterstone books. The official opening ceremony included key note speakers such as Sir Digby Jones, Director General CBI and Mary Reilly, Chair of the London development agency.
Designed by Eldridge Smerin, the new centre provides an exciting space for entrepreneurs, innovators and SME's to network and benefit from the vast knowledge and specialist advisors available. The centre marks the first completed architectural project within the building since its launch in 1997. Acknowledging a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs, the contemporary environment creates a new spirit to the centre that the creative industry can instantly connect with, while utilizing the unique knowledge resource of the British Library.
Initially a pilot project launched in May 2004, a £1 million capital injection from the London Development Agency was able to transform the centre to a permanent national resource that now includes an exciting networking area to collaborate and exchange ideas plus a suite of workshop rooms for meetings, clinics, workshops and a 1:1 advisory service.
"The new BIPC centre is aimed at connecting innovators, entrepreneurs and other creative thinkers to the British Library and its collections", said Nick Eldridge of Eldridge Smerin architects and designers, "Our design has succeeded in creating an inspiring and creative hub that reflects the ingenuity of these individuals, allowing access to a range of information in one central base creating a very different mood to the more academic areas of the library. The injection of new colours, forms and material sensibility into the building is complimentary while remaining distinctive".
About the Project
- Behind the original oak doors of the Reading Room, Eldridge Smerins design introduces a very modern and contemporary feel to the British Library, while ensuring the style is merged successfully with the original design of the building.
- The solution has been designed as an inspirational intervention constructed without structural modifications, within the existing shell of the reading room. Materials such as etched glass, page lacquer paneling and stainless steel fittings have been carefully selected and detailed to match the quality of the existing library.
- An innovative wall system separates the studio space using high gloss polyester lacquered panels with invisible fixings to produce a flush and almost seamless coloured wall, sitting within translucent glass panels incorporating leading presentation technology and display areas for meetings.
- A unique glass film that changes transparency depending on the viewing angle introduces a degree of privacy to the users as well as a visually compelling veil to the composition of coloured glass and coloured lacquered walls behind.
- The furniture selected for the centre combines a 1948 classic chair with the very latest workbenching systems by Vitra. Trialed in the library foyer for wi-fi usage in 2005 the system responds to the demands for flexibility and reconfiguration required within the space, while remaining consistent with the architect's concept of inspirational space.
About Eldridge Smerin
- Eldridge Smerin was formed by Nick Eldridge and Piers Smerin in 1998. Their work has built a reputation for producing intelligent and memorable solutions in response to their varied clients' briefs, creating beautifully detailed buildings and interiors within often tightly constrained budgets.
- Their first project, The Lawns, a family house in the Highgate Conservation Area in London for Frances and John Sorrell, won awards from the RIBA and Civic Trust, was shortlisted for the prestigious Stirling Prize and established their reputation as leaders of the new wave of cutting-edge domestic architecture with a series of commissions for new houses on similarly sensitive sites.
- Within a short space of time, the practice has also completed a number of notable commercial projects including the radical new research and development Headquarters for BT Cellnet/02 at Ealing studios, the E Oppenheimer and Sons of De Beers HQ, Prisma's Headquarters on the top two floors of the iconic Centre Point tower, an entire floor of the new Birmingham Selfridges, and the interior and landscape of the luxury brands Villa Moda department store in Kuwait.
- Recent projects include the redesign of the Design Council's workspace, the Headquarters for a Clerkenwell fashion group, a Performing Arts Centre for a north London school and the new Business and Intellectual Property Centre at the British Library.
Eldridge Smerin: http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/7352/
British Library: http://www.bl.uk
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