Research & Collections Centre, Shakespeare's Globe
View all projectsEducation and research have always been fundamental to Shakespeare’s Globe’s mission but have never had a visible public presence at their Bankside site. The Research & Collections Centre brings the library, archive, and public reading rooms into the heart of the building giving them the prominence they deserve.
Oak is the predominant material of the Globe’s two reconstructed theatres. To create The Research & Collections Centre in the Globe’s basements, we designed a structural oak frame with panelled oak infill – a giant piece of joinery – that borrows details and proportions from the theatres. Environmentally conditioned display cases are built into this structure so both objects and research activity are prominent in the public spaces. The library is at the heart of space, always visible but – with careful acoustic detailing – also quiet and conducive to study.
Newly refurbished rehearsal space for the Globe's actors completes the project.
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The Centre is accessed via the new Weston Foyer where there will be a programme of changing displays and exhibitions
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Context
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The Audre D. Carlin Reading Room provides access to over six thousand books about Shakespeare, early modern literature and culture, and the history of dramatic performance across the world
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The John Wolfson Rare Book Room houses nearly five hundred 16th and 17th century plays, poems, novellas, treatises, and works of history, philosophy and religion
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The Wolfson Lecture Theatre has retractable seating for ultimate flexibility
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The climate-controlled archive
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The Audre D. Carlin Reading Room
- City
- London SE1
- Uses
- Culture, Education
- Client
- Shakespeare's Globe
- Status
- Completed
- Size
- 640 sqm
- Collaborators
MEP, Structures, QS: Ingleton Wood
Lighting: Sutton Vane Associates
Acoustics: Ramboll
Fire: MKA Fire
Principal Contractor: Beardwell