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Latent Spaces
The engineers were keen to exploit 'latent voids' in the fabric of the existing building. Some of these spaces have fallen into disuse, others are being used in a different way. The primary plant rooms are as small as they can be and are set in existing spaces. Many of the spaces were store rooms but some were departmental office accommodation which was decanted in a major enabling-works package. To get the air from the primary to secondary plant rooms, ducting had to be threaded around the existing foundations, which fortunately are not contiguous.
The four secondary plant rooms have been built just below the porticos on the east and west facades of the court. Each portico had two 2m diameter, stone spiral maintenance staircases which climbed from level 1 to the roof (the level directly under the main Great Court plaza). By stripping out the stairs, the remaining 'cylinders' will be used as the exhaust air ducts from the secondary air-handling plant. Only three will be used as such and one stair will be kept to maintain access to the balcony in the Grade 1 listed Kings library on the east side of the site. At present the only access is via the turrets.
The space below the Reading Room was another useful space and could be used for pipework and air ducts, providing a central 'hub' for the services. The air supply to the Reading Room mimics the original design but does not copy it exactly. In the original, the air was drawn up over heating pipes through brick arched ducts in the floor void, and then up through grilles between the desks and out of vents in the roof. In this new version which uses the Reading Room as an information space with large numbers of computers and screens, tempered air is being provided via insulated ducts connecting into the original desks from below .
There was no external finish to the Reading Room to speak of, so this left the way open for an external skin to be built leaving a 500mm void between it and the Reading Room wall. This void is used to take service risers such as the smoke extract.
Within each of the service runs allowance capacity has been left for future provision of service infrastructure.
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