Wright & Wright Architects has completed a new library and study centre at St John’s College, Oxford.

Due to officially open next month, the building adds extra capacity to the college’s current libraries, which are housed in the grade I-listed Canterbury Quadrangle, described as one of Britain’s most significant baroque ensembles.

Wright & Wright said the new centre, which borders on a grade II-listed garden, was conceived as “a series of overlapping planes of masonry and glass” and resembled “a stone casket, with a complex section and thick-skinned walls that sculpt and moderate light, giving each space a distinct character”.

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