The New Library at Magdalene College

Conferred every year by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Stirling Prize is a recognition of the best new buildings raised in the United Kingdom. The 2022 winner was the New Library at Magdalene College, of the London-based studio directed by Níall McLaughlin. Located in this historic context of Cambridge University, the building is an arrangement of simple brick volumes that reinterpret the architecture of the oldest buildings of the College. Its material quality and form are inscribed within their context, proceeding as they do from a balanced combination of timber and brick, and of elements like chimneys and gabled roofs. To provide the project with a sense of identity, the authors ensured that all the key features were perceived as a composition of interconnected elements: skylights, columns, balustrades, bookshelves, and desks form a coherent warp and weft throughout the space. For these decisions, together with a careful general plan, the jury described the library as “a sophisticated, generous architecture that has been built to last.”