Oxford University’s Chancellor Lord William Hague has officially opened the Spencer Building, the first extension to Corpus Christi College’s Library since its founding in the 16th century. The 479m2 building includes three reader rooms, a home for the College’s special collections and archives, and approximately 70,000 books.
Work started on the extension in 2021, and the Spencer Building’s £17 million cost was fully philanthropically funded. It was designed by Wright & Wright Architects, who also redeveloped St John’s College’s libraries and quadrangle.
The aspect of the long-awaited Spencer Building most familiar to the 265 undergraduates and 130 postgraduates of Corpus Christi college are undoubtedly the three reading rooms. These have increased capacity for student study by 60%. The opening of the Spencer Building has also allowed the Old Library’s ground floor to be used as teaching rooms.
A third year Corpus student told Cherwell: “The new library, with generous desks and good electrical outlets (including USB-C at about 20w which is great), is easier to use as a study space [than the Old Library].”
The reading rooms include 55 bespoke reader desks and six dedicated research desks, made from brass and oak to match the College’s historic style. Wright & Wright Architects emphasised that the historic elements of the College are incorporated into the building’s Passivhaus-certified design.
A second year Corpus student told Cherwell: “There is always a risk when attaching new builds to old buildings that they’re going to look out of place, but they blended the old with the new quite seamlessly.”
The old city wall is used to maintain stable environmental conditions for the material housed in the Wright Special Collections Centre. The Corpus Christi Development Office told Cherwell that the Wright centre enables the collection and archives to be viewed in a more pleasant space. The special collection contains more than 20,000 early printed books and 546 manuscripts, including works by Galileo and Erasmus.
The Spencer Building is fully Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliant, allowing direct wheelchair access to the Old Library for the first time. With the new building, students can also self issue books for the first time. A third year Corpus student told Cherwell: “Being able to check books out at any time is a major improvement.”
