Kingston Library, has relocated and officially opened in a brand new purpose built building in the centre of the thriving Kingston Centre shopping and leisure area. Walking through the entrance the interior immediately has the ‘wow’ effect with a strong, modern feel with colour popping easy seating contrasted with white shelving. Overall there is a strong family and teen focus with stylish furnishings and a children’s area with tiered amphitheatre style seating. This creates a performance area for storytelling time and a scribble wall for post its, scribbles and artwork.

The layout of the stylish curved shelving bays creates subtle zones with something to discover in each area, making the space seem larger than it actually is. The intuitive design means that there is no need for over-signposting and the novel illuminated shelving bay guides are simple black and white text in an easy to read font, lit up with a clever built in LCD lighting feature.

The library has a variety of meeting spaces for community groups and businesses, including a hireable meeting pod. The shelving bays have a mix of display options with some colour blocked face on display shelves introducing the colour theme that carries on throughout the space. Looking up the wave acoustic ceiling with designer lighting gives the space status and an architectural, design-led feel.

Screens are used throughout as digital displays to promote events, calendars or for use/hire by visitors. The aim is to create a clutter free environment which doesn’t shoe-horn the space into any particular activity. The furnishings are flexible with shelving on castors and a storage room holds stackable tables and chairs which can easily be moved into the front entrance area if it’s wanted to be used by a large group/meeting.

In just one small part of the fastest growing town in Europe, the Kingston Library is set to be one big part of the local lifestyle.