The University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library houses one of the world’s finest collections of books and manuscripts in one of the most impressive neo-Gothic buildings in Europe. For many years, however, the building was difficult to negotiate and maintain with many inaccessible areas and a lack of visitor facilities. Working with conservation architect Lloyd Evans Prichard, Austin-Smith:Lord’s brief was to ‘unlock’ the Rylands by preserving the existing buildings and collections whilst enhancing the Library’s accessibility and public profile.

Austin-Smith:Lord designed a striking new five-storey extension to the Grade I listed building aimed at raising the Library’s public profile. The design added a new public entrance with café and shop,10,000 linear metres of archive storage, a conservation workshop and a reading room.