Shakespeare's Globe has opened a new Research & Collections Centre designed by Allies and Morrison, giving its library and archive a public home on Bankside for the first time.
A new Research & Collections Centre has opened at Shakespeare's Globe, bringing the theatre's library, archive and reading rooms into public view on its Bankside site for the first time. Designed by Allies and Morrison, it is presented by the theatre as London's only dedicated Shakespeare library and archive that is fully open and accessible to the public.
Research has been part of the Globe's work since founder Sam Wanamaker commissioned an academic team to establish how Shakespeare's 1599 playhouse had been built, one of the largest arts and humanities research projects of the 1980s and 90s. Scholars have worked alongside artists at the theatre ever since, and the new building gives that half of the institution a permanent address.
At the heart of the development is the Audre D. Carlin Reading Room, which gives access to more than six thousand books on Shakespeare, early modern literature and culture, and the history of dramatic performance around the world. Readers may book either a morning or an afternoon slot through the Shakespeare's Globe website, with appointments available from today.
The Performance Archive is also publicly accessible by appointment. It holds the documents of production generated in making work at the Globe, together with the digital archive of performance - recordings of productions, public talks, workshops and events. Beside it, the John Wolfson Rare Book Room continues to house the theatre's library of original Renaissance texts, nearly five hundred 16th and 17th century plays, poems, novellas, treatises and works of history, philosophy and religion, which the Globe describes as the closest resemblance there is to Shakespeare's own bookshelf.
The scheme also takes in the Wolfson Lecture Theatre, a climate-controlled secure archive store and a new Weston Foyer, lined with display cases drawn from the institutional and artistic archives. Hundreds of school pupils and university students have already worked in the spaces. The Globe remains the only theatre in the world to house a resident cohort of scholars of international reach, and runs the Shakespeare Centre London jointly with King's College London.
Dr Will Tosh, Director of Education at Shakespeare's Globe, said: "Our new Research & Collections Centre is a stunning, welcoming home at the heart of the Globe for curious visitors of all ages. I'm incredibly proud that we're able to open a new library at a time when the arts and humanities are facing unprecedented pressure, and I'm so grateful to the very generous donors who have made this possible. At the Globe we've always believed that Shakespeare's works are best enlivened when we combine scholarship with performance and public engagement, and our new facility will support that endeavour for years to come."
Oliver Heywood, Director at Allies & Morrison, said: "Education and research have always been at the forefront of the Globe's mission - long before they even had a theatre - but this work has never had a visible public presence on their Bankside site. The Research & Collections Centre brings the library, archive, and public reading rooms right into the heart of the building giving them the prominence they deserve. The project ensures the Globe's impressive collection, which includes early editions of Shakespeare, Marlowe and Jonson, is properly cared for, accessible, and displayed as part of curated exhibitions in the new spaces. The new timber-lined Research & Collections Centre is the most contemporary member of the family of spaces dedicated to Shakespeare at New Globe Walk. This project is the continuation of Allies and Morrison's working collaboration with the Globe which now spans over a decade, from the design of the archetypal Jacobean Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in 2013, and the revival of the foyer spaces in 2014, to ongoing conversations about how the Globe best uses their unique site to realise their evolving ambitions and programming."
Allies and Morrison designed the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the indoor candlelit house that opened beside the Globe Theatre in 2014, and its other work includes the Royal Festival Hall Transformation, the London College of Fashion and the redevelopment of King's Cross. The practice is currently at work on projects at the Barbican Arts Centre, the Orange Tree Theatre and new studios for BBC Music at East Bank. Construction of the Research and Collections Centre was completed by Beardwell Construction, with project management provided by Ingleton Wood.
Full details of the collections and how to book an appointment are on the Shakespeare's Globe website.
