More than just a building full of books - the Peckham Library

The new Peckham Library was the Stirling Prize 2000 Building of the Year, a wonderful modern structure, which creates a public space below the main body of the library.

Located in one of London's less desirable neighbourhoods, Peckham, the new library by William Alsop and Jan Stormer is one of three elements (as well as the Peckham Arch and the Health and Fitness Centre) defining a new public square.

Completed late in 1999, it is part of a concerted programme of regeneration and community growth for this part of the borough of Southwark.

Alsop Architects launched an intense dialogue with the community to discover what sort of building Peckham's inhabitants wanted.

The result was a striking example of the new community architecture. The Peckham model proposes that the 21st century library should reach out to the community, encourage access to knowledge and embrace the diversity of the local population

Three wood-clad pods are the most distinctive features of the library, housing the children's library, and Afro-Caribbean literature centre and a meeting space. All part of an attempt to provide a new image of the library - in effect, to re-brand it - as a dynamic and creative centre of local life.

Yet this remains a library - not a multimedia centre - and books are still at its heart (though supplemented by videos and new information technology). These elements help to distinguish the library from other, more sterile designs that are prevalent.

other libraries in Southwark

MyVillage, 12th May