Project Spotlight - Central Library, University of East Anglia
Specifier
Shepheard Epstein Hunter, London
Design Requirements
Shackerley has recently supplied a ceramic granite rainscreen system for the new extension to the Central Library Building at the University of East Anglia, a campus celebrated for its award winning modern architecture by Sir Denys Lasdun, Lord Norman Foster and Rick Mather.
The existing Central Library was built in 1968 to designs by Denys Lasdun and Partners and was extended by Fielding and Mawson in 1974. The University has grown dramatically since then and Shepheard Epstein Hunter was appointed to extend the listed building by 7500m2 in a phased programme of work following designs sympathetic to Sir Denys Lasdun’s Masterplan.
A rear ventilated rainscreen system was specified to provide long-lasting protection and insulation for the new six-storey building. Nick Hufton of Shepheard Epstein Hunter said: “In this first phase we wanted to create an extension which would echo the original concrete library building without resorting to pastiche. We used Shackerley’s ceramic granite slabs alongside Western Red Cedar panels to create the outer façade of the rainscreen.”
“We completed the project to schedule and the University is now able to offer its 13,000 students a much enlarged Library facility. We’re very pleased with the final appearance of the cladding and are currently considering the use of ceramic granite on other projects.”
Materials Used
350m2 of buff coloured Toscana ceramic granite panels in a natural unpolished ‘OP’ finish, each measuring 1200 x 600 x 12mm were ‘invisibly’ fixed to Shackerley’s Sureclad prefabricated aluminium and stainless steel substructure using undercut anchors.
