The Brief
Lincoln College is the largest educational institute in Lincolnshire, providing study opportunities for around 9000 full and parttime students across three locations. The Monks Road campus in Lincoln is both the administrative centre and the largest site of the college.
Alongside the programme of construction work to expand the site, the college wanted to take the opportunity to bring all Student Services together in one space, providing students with modern learning facilities and resources that were logically organised and easy to find, as well as creating an environment with maximum natural light and a fresh feel.
The Solution
In line with this objective, the library was located on one floor in a new space situated partly in the refurbished original block and partly in the new extension. The new area was relatively long and narrow and so delivering an aesthetically pleasing layout that enables high numbers of users to flow easily through the space was critical. Latitude shelving in a contemporary finish worked well here: sleek and stylish without dominating the space.
Alongside this, the fully-glazed façade resulted in reduced wall space. One of the primary design requirements was to arrange shelving and furniture effectively across the internal floor area. An additional challenge was the need to create specific zones across the library, each with a different kind of stock, clearly defined. This was achieved by subtly providing the correct amount of shelving for each subject area and using clever colour-coding of the signage.