Wilson, Colin St John

   Architect

   Colin St John Wilson heads up an architectural practice which has worked abroad (particularly Hong Kong) and in Britain. It has designed many school buildings, and in Britain specializes in designing public buildings, particularly libraries. The partnership designed London’s new British Library, which has a six-story glass tower housing the entrance lobby, and the King’s Library. Incorporated in the partnership’s philosophy is the idea that libraries are as much about recreation as about scholarship, and thus must be made congenial places for casual browsers as well as for serious academics. Hence the new British Library has an informal and asymmetrical layout with ‘student-friendly’ galleries, exhibition rooms and recreational facilities.

   PETER CHILDS