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Badbury Park Community Hub & Library

July 25th 2023

As one of Swindon's most important public facilities, the Badbury Park Community Hub & Library houses over 4,000 books for families to enjoy. Libraries Manager Deborah Lamb contacted Peters' interior design team to create an inspiring, multipurpose space where children and adults could discover new titles and authors, read aloud, or share their favourite stories. Our brief was to provide a magical forest-themed space for families to enjoy reading for pleasure.

Now the installation is complete, schools and families from around Swindon are taking advantage of the incredible book selection and bespoke reading zones. If you're looking for library inspiration, you can explore our transformation - including a video tour and colour theory guide - below.

DISCOVER OUR DESIGN SERVICE

Our designers created cosy spaces for children and adults to sit and enjoy books together. Can you spot our storytelling chair?

Badbury Park Library already had a vision in mind, so our designer, Jay Rose, worked with their team to bring their mood board and ideas to life. Deborah explains: "We had a rough idea of what we wanted: something nature-inspired, not the usual primary school colour palette of red, blue and yellow. The design exceeded our expectations; the forest-themed seating and book trees look amazing, and the colour palette is beautiful: a wide range of greens with pops of orange and yellow."

One challenge our team was particularly excited to work on was ensuring that the design was completely flexible. Jay explains: "They wanted a library that could be accessed by both adults and children as there is a school opposite the community centre and the nearest library (in Swindon town centre) is a 10-minute drive away. All the furniture had to be able to move to the back of the room to leave a clear space for alternate activities like meetings and fitness classes.

"A nature theme was incoporated as the building was in a new build estate and they wanted to create the feeling of coming away from the town into a magical forest. It was also important that there was enough adult seating to encourage them to visit during the day and create a real community feel within this newly built-up area."

Our nature range has been a huge hit with visitors, with Deborah adding: "We are so pleased with the toadstool seats and corner reading den - they have been a favourite with children since opening! The quality of workmanship in the fitting was fantastic, and we were always kept up to date. We had a tight opening deadline, but everything was in place on time and looked amazing for our Grand Opening to the community."

"We have had so much positive feedback from families who love the space. The local primary school is opposite, and they have already booked class visits. It’s been lovely to see the children leave school at 3pm and come straight over to the library!"

Deborah Lamb, Libraries Manager, South Swindon Parish Libraries

Exploring colour psychology

Our interior designer, Jay, has a passion for colour psychology, which is the study of how colours affect human emotions and behaviour. A carefully-considered colour scheme has been scientifically proven to have benefits for children, so when when choosing colours for a nature-themed library, Jay selected shades that would promote calmness and creativity while clearly identfying the different zones. If you'd like to find out more about colour psychology, you can read our blog here.