Jim Stirling’s Architecture - ACE036.6

Model for the Faculty of History Library at Cambridge (1968). Interior and exterior of the library showing details of construction. Commentary talking about the controversial nature of the building. One of Stirling’s team in the roof over the library explains the building’s structure and appearance. Stirling’s VO talking about the nature of the truss roof. Students in the reading room. Commentary talks about the way in which all book stacks are visible to the librarian, but that the open plan nature of the building can make it more distracting. Stirling’s VO on the air-conditioning. Commentary says that office staff don’t like many elements of the design. Rain. Stirling’s VO talking about Constructivism, how his buildings relate to this, how Frank Lloyd Wright would not approve, how modern taste is for something "sculptural". Stirling explaining the "multiplicity of function" of some of the details of the building.