It was designed by Alsop and Störmer,[1] engineered by AKT II and won the Stirling Prize for Architecture in 2000.

[2] It is a striking building best imagined as an inverted capital letter 'L', with the upper part supported by thin steel pillars set at apparently random angles.

The remaining, supporting buildings on the ground and 1st floors house the information and media centre.

The building attracted 500,000 visitors in its first year of opening in the wake of its receipt of the prize.

[citation needed] SuperC [de], a student service centre building at the RWTH Aachen in Germany was built in 2006, which has been compared to Peckham Library with a similar L design.