National Libraries: The British Library Announces Plans For 100,000-Square-Foot Expansion

From AFP (via The Inquirer)

The British Library has revealed plans for a 100,000-square-foot expansion that will include additional exhibition space and improved public areas.
Architecture firm Rogers Stirk Harbour+Partners, which worked on a recent expansion of the British Museum, is behind the project, which will develop a 2.8-acre site to the north of the current British Library building at St Pancras.
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The project also includes the creation of a permanent home for the Alan Turing Institute, the United Kingdom center for data science.

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From The Evening Standard:

[The expansion] is part of a wider development of a 2.8-acre site north of the library that will offer commercial firms the chance to set up shop at the heart of what has been dubbed the Knowledge Quarter. This is made up of an alliance of  80 cultural and science organisations including Google, the University of the Arts and the British Library, all located within one mile of King’s Cross, Euston Road and Bloomsbury.

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More From the Official British Library Announcement:

The development project is a key part of the British Library’s Living Knowledge vision to become ever more open, creative and innovative in the delivery of its purposes. The objectives of this development include:

• More exhibition spaces, increasing public access to the Library’s vast world-class collections;
• New facilities for learners of all ages, with expanded programmes for schools, colleges, families, adult learners and local communities;
• Improved public areas and accessibility, with more places to sit and study;
• An enhanced offering for business users, building on the success of the Library’s Business & IP Centre;
• A new northern entrance close to the Francis Crick Institute and the main St Pancras Station concourse.
• A permanent home for the Alan Turing Institute, the UK national centre for data science;
• Flexible accommodation for third-party companies, institutions and research organisations seeking to work at the heart of the Knowledge Quarter;
• Environmental improvements including enhanced East-West connectivity for local people walking between Somers Town and St Pancras.Direc

Direct to Project Web Page and Project Video

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