Exeter’s Jackson Library wins FX International Interior Design Award
Exeter College’s newly transformed Jackson Library has won the FX International Interior Design Award for public sector building. The panel of judges praised the transformation, calling it “A beautifully realised and detailed reinvention that unlocks the building for contemporary use”.
The FX International Interior Design Awards are open to architects, designers, clients and suppliers for interior design projects or products. Its judges are independent experts, and comprise engineers, clients, architects and designers from many different sectors.
This is the second award the Jackson Library has received, after it was presented with the Oxford Preservation Trust award for Building Conservation in November.
The conservation of the Victorian library, now named the Jackson Library to honour the father of principal benefactor and Exeter alumnus William Jackson (1983, Geography), included repairs to historic stonemasonry, windows, roofs and bookcases. The project also involved sensitive refurbishment, removing unsympathetic 20th-century interventions, creating extra study space and making the library fully accessible for the first time.
Originally constructed in 1857, the Library has had its original Victorian Gothic features restored and been made fully accessible, with a lift that services all floors, step-free entrance, and a wheelchair accessible toilet. The Library’s striking architecture has been preserved and restored, revealing original features, some of which had been hidden for decades. The stonework, woodwork and oak bookcases have been restored, and where there is new woodwork, such as in the new mezzanine floor in the Library annexe, outstanding craftsmanship has ensured that it is of the highest quality throughout and sympathetic to Gilbert Scott’s vision. Lighting, ventilation, heating and electrics have all been significantly upgraded as well, while maintaining the Library’s much-loved appearance and character.
The transformation of the Library has proved enormously popular with students, and was made possible thanks to the generosity of alumni and supporters of Exeter College. Together they gave over £8 million to the project, hitting the ambitious fundraising target and creating an exceptional study space for generations of students to come.
You can read more about the transformed Library and see pictures in the noted architectural publications The RIBA Journal, The Architects Journal, Architecture Today, and Dezeen.
Photos by Will Pryce
