Comparing Trinity College Library and The Hive

1229 Words3 Pages

The focus of this report is to compare the structure of Trinity College Library and The Hive.

The Hive Library, in Worcester, is a four-story building that is made of golden-colour copper aluminium alloy (exterior) and water proof concrete (interior). Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios designed the building, which costs around ‘£38m’(Ijeh, The modern reader, p2). The library was designed for the use of public as well as the use Worcester University student. On the other hand, Christopher Wren designed The Trinity College in 1676-1695 in Cambridge. It’s a single large room, at the first floor level. Several feet below the external division, between the two stories, lies the floor of the library (Hawkes, Origins of Building Science, p87). This gives is a better architecture proportion. The library was designed for the use of Cambridge student only. The use of both libraries explains the difference in size of the two buildings. The Hive was designed for public and Worcester university students, whereas Trinity was only designed for Cambridge university students. The Hive is bigger because larger population is using the library than the Trinity library.

Both libraries design are completely different. This is due to the time differences of the two libraries were built (difference of 317 years) and different designers. Wren designed cathedrals in the 16 century (Hawkes, Origins of Building Science, p71-85), which explains why Trinity layout is so similar to Isle in church. The large stained glass in the middle of the library gives a religious feeling because its structured similar to an isle in church and therefore it adds a heavenly feeling to the library, even the way that the stack position is similar to the isle seats positioned in a...

... middle of paper ...

...building used artificial light to make the building bright at night so the use of the library would increase. However, Trinity artificial lights are candles, which limits the time it will be used. Therefore, The Hive is a more successful building.

Works Cited

Sawmill Walk. (2013). Creating The Hive. Available: http://www.thehiveworcester.org/creating-the-hive.html. Last accessed 18th Jan 2014.

IJEH, I (2012) ‘The Modern Reader’ in Building 5 April 2012

Hawkes. (2012). Christopher Wren and Origins of Building Science. (3), p87-92.

Built-image.com. (ND). 'The Hive' Worcester Library and History Centre. Available: http://www.klhuk.com/portfolio/civic--public/worcester-library-and-history-centre.aspx. Last accessed 18th Jan 2014.

Wright, (ND). ‘The Hive’.

Nicholas, Ray (1994). Cambridge Architecture a concise guide. Cambridge: University of Cambridge. p3-55.

Open Document