Magdalen College library plan gets green light

The existing Grade II listed library and landscaped quadrangle were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott.

They were an adaptation of Magdalen College School and its playground. That Victorian building was designed by JC Buckler in the mid-19th-century.

Wright & Wright has redesigned the building and landscaped the quadrangle, and both are carefully integrated with a new reading room, which is sunk into the garden. The old and the new will provide comfortable, up-to-date working environments, which are designed to minimise their carbon footprint.

Clare Wright, founding Partner at Wright & Wright Architect, said: “We feel honoured to be asked to design for this environment, and take that responsibility very seriously. Our proposal for the Library at Magdalen College saves what is best about what is left of the historic fabric, while setting that against contemporary new work.”