Scheme involves revamping 1850s library

Six practices have been shortlisted for a competition to revamp an Oxford college’s grade II listed library.

The building at Exeter college was designed by Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1850s but is now in need of repairs along with plans to increase the number of reader spaces.

The finalists are

  • · Carmody Groarke
  • · Coffey Architects
  • · Gort Scott
  • · Jonathan Tuckey Design
  • · Lee/Fitzgerald
  • · Nex

The library includes a timber-vaulted ceiling at the upper level and oak bookcases with decorative mouldings of fruit and foliage to Scott’s original designs.

The compeitition has been organised by Malcolm Reading Consultants.

Exeter College_Interior 1

Parts of the library have remained largely unchanged from the 1850s