IQ collaborated with Studio Weave to design, manufacture and install the architectural glazing solutions to the Grade II Listed Lea Bridge library in East London. The library extension added a café and adaptable community space to the listed building, designed to deliver a revived civic heart for the borough of Waltham Forest.

The timber framed extension adjoins the rear of the original Edwardian red brick library, to improve and extended upon the current features of the building, whilst simultaneously maintain the culture of the original building. A large timber frame glass wall occupies the entire outward facing elevation of the library extension, using a combination of structural glass with minimal windows 4+ sliding glass doors. By engineering a glass façade with both sliding and opening elements, the team at IQ were able to create a timber frame glass wall that ran the entire length of the library with floor to ceiling glass.

The design of the timber frame glass wall sits harmoniously amongst existing mature trees within the courtyard beyond. The rectangular footprint of the library extension space is punctuated by cut outs within the timber structure filled with frameless glass. These frameless structural glass openings were coordinated with canopies and trunks to provide a sense of connectivity between the interior and exterior spaces.

Midway along the timber frame glass wall, the structure narrows and steps up which was a purposeful design to protect the root system of the surrounding trees on the library plot. This change in level of the building was paired with the location of a curved glass wall within the glass façade.  This change in direction of glass within the timber frame masks the structural changes by drawing the eye to the curved glass wall element.

Salvaged wood from trees that have been felled across London were used to create the interior floors, walls, and ceilings, providing a variety of colours and textures. This includes fluted timber joinery on the walls in between areas of built-in seating. The structural glass and sliding glass doors were fitted within this timber structure for a harmonious design of glass meeting nature. This project acts as a showcase of the effect in which the combination of timber and bespoke glazing elements, can be in creating a space in which is extremely aesthetically pleasing. Simultaneously maintaining high levels of functionality, something of which is crucial in communal functional spaces such as libraries.

The large timber frame glass wall is by far the outstanding element of this design and spans the length of the new pavilion, allowing morning light to fill the space, which in turn brings about a multitude of intangible benefits to the library as well as making the space more aesthetically pleasing. While on the eastern side of the library extension, floor-to-ceiling frameless windows and glazed sliding doors have been installed into the timber structure to open views to the park and maximise the amount of cascading light that enters the space.

It also highlights the quality of design that can be achieved from the use of materials that contribute to sustainable building practise, a trend in which is becoming increasingly important because of the increasingly environmentally conscious consumers are becoming.