Close view of the anodised-mesh cladding at the corner of Canada Water Library, above angled first-floor windows

Public library

Canada Water LibraryCladding packageRotherhithe · London SE16

Dmitro Facades delivered a four-week cladding package at Canada Water Library, the RIBA Award-winning public library beside Canada Water Basin in Rotherhithe.

01 · Expanded-mesh cladding at the building's corner, above the angled first-floor windows.

At a glance

Package: Cladding package
Duration: Four-week package
Location: Rotherhithe · London SE16
Client: I&W
Building completed: November 2011

Dmitro Facades delivered a four-week cladding package for client I&W at Canada Water Library, the RIBA Award-winning public library beside Canada Water Basin in Rotherhithe. The wider scheme was delivered for the London Borough of Southwark by main contractor ISG Jackson, to a design by CZWG Architects, and completed in November 2011.

Part of: Cladding packages across South East London

Canada Water Library seen in daylight, the cantilevered clad form overhanging Deal Porters Square

Canada Water Library in daylight, its cantilevered upper floor overhanging the square.

Canada Water Library at dusk with the interior lit behind the angled first-floor windows

The same building at dusk, its angled windows lit from within.

Canada Water Library at dusk seen from the street, with a bus passing and the building's angled form against the sky

The public centrepiece of the Canada Water regeneration.

Canada Water Library sits beside Canada Water Basin and Deal Porters Square, next to the Underground and bus interchange in Rotherhithe, Southwark.

Inside the library

Dmitro's package clads the exterior; the building's celebrated interior, organised around a helical, oak-lined stair, is CZWG Architects' design and is shown here only as context for the wider scheme.

Canada Water Library's circular ground floor, book stacks curving around the base of the helical stair — The library's circular ground floor, wrapped around the base of the helical stair.

Canada Water Library's main floor viewed from the upper gallery, bookshelves curving around the atrium — The main library floor, seen from the upper gallery.

Canada Water Library's upper gallery, bookshelves beneath the raking roof structure and columns — Bookshelves beneath the roof structure, on the upper gallery.

Canada Water Library's entrance hall, the timber-ribbed stair drum rising through an oval opening in the orange ceiling, visitors below — The entrance hall, the stair drum's oak ribs rising through an oval ceiling opening.

The wider scheme

An inverted pyramid, designed by CZWG Architects.

Canada Water Library was designed by CZWG Architects, lead architect Piers Gough, as an inverted pyramid: a compact ground-level footprint expanding into cantilevered upper floors, freeing more of the site for Deal Porters Square below. Two façades incline at around 50 degrees and two at around 80 degrees, adding roughly six metres of floor depth at the top of the building.

Southwark's Planning Committee considered the scheme on 31 July 2007. Construction started on 29 June 2009 and the building was completed in November 2011, opening to the public on 28 November 2011, for client London Borough of Southwark and main contractor ISG Jackson.

The completed building won three awards in 2012, recognising the project and its design team. Dmitro's own contribution was its cladding package.

2012 RIBA AwardWinner
2012 Civic Trust AwardWinner
2012 Selwyn Goldsmith Award for Universal DesignWinner

Canada Water Library's helical stair, its walls lined with vertical oak ribs, seen from below

The helical stair at the heart of the library, lined with oak ribs.

Canada Water Library, clad by Dmitro.

Rotherhithe, London SE16

Dmitro client: I&W
Main contractor: ISG Jackson
Architect: CZWG Architects
Client and owner: London Borough of Southwark

Photography: Southwark Council; Cmglee (CC BY-SA)

Part of: Cladding packages across South East London