Library Buildings around the World

this leading edge initiative is centred on the work already underway at the University of Calgary.” The Digital Library will be built
next to the existing MacKimmie Library complex. It will include space for the public to use the Digital Library and 500 new
computer stations. An extension of the Digital Library will be built on the U of C’s Urban Campus in downtown Calgary to serve
students and the downtown community. Satellite access points will be located at all partner institutions. The Calgary Campus Digital
Library and Experiential Learning Centre will result in 3,500 more student spaces; the Institute for Sustainable Energy,
Environment and Economy will add 1,000 more spaces; the Urban Campus initiative will add 2,500 spaces downtown. Work on the
Experiential Learning Centre—particularly upgrading existing lab space on campus—will begin in tandem with the CCDL. At a
meeting on October 14 the university’s Board of Governors will consider a recommendation from the university’s Planning and
Finance Committee to borrow the necessary funding. “It is important for our students— and for our community—to increase the
university’s capacity. We are growing at a tremendous rate in order to keep up with Calgary’s economic and population growth,”
said Weingarten. “These projects not only give us the space we need for these students, as well as the faculty and staff who will teach
them, but they also provide the facilities we need to provide a progressive and contemporary education for our students and to
continue the growth of our research and scholarly programs.” Campus Calgary Digital library offers public access to vast collection
The Campus Calgary Digital Library is the University of Calgary’s top-priority capital infrastructure project. The Campus Calgary
Digital Library is one of four major infrastructure projects that make up the university’s $710-million capital plan. The projects –
the Experiential Learning Centre, the Urban Campus, the Digital Library and the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment
and Economy – are the cornerstones of the university’s goal to enrol 7,000 additional students by 2010. The Calgary Campus Digital
Library and Experiential Learning Centre will result in 3,500 more student spaces; the Institute for Sustainable Energy,
Environment and Economy will add 1,000 more spaces; the Urban Campus initiative will add 2,500 spaces downtown. The Campus
Calgary Digital Library (CCDL) is a partnership with all the public post-secondary institutions in Calgary – Bow Valley College,
Mount Royal College, ACAD, and SAIT Polytechnic – as well as those in neighbouring regions, such as Red Crow College on the
Blood Reserve. In addition, the Digital Library will build on the U of C’s relationship with the Calgary Health Region and ensure
access to more, and the most current, information for health care providers. The partnership is a first in Canada and will create an
information network that will see the university’s vast electronic library holdings made available to the public electronically for use
in business, education and non-profit applications. It will make it possible to create a single library card for all post-secondary
students to gain access to the University’s digital holdings. The Digital Library will provide students, faculty and the public with
information, expert help and facilities that support the quest for knowledge, understanding, creativity and innovation. The Digital
Library will be built next to the existing MacKimmie Library complex. It will include space for the public to use the Digital Library
and 500 new computer stations. An extension of the Digital Library will be built on the U of C’s Urban Campus in downtown
Calgary to serve students and the downtown community. Satellite access points will be located at all partner institutions. The project
also frees space in existing academic buildings on the U of C campus through the relocation of some existing services, and this will
create areas for new classrooms, laboratories and learning space. In addition to U of C students and faculty, all post-secondary
students, researchers and faculty in the Calgary region will have the same access to print, archival and museum collections. The
Calgary Campus Digital Library will also provide the foundation for the province-wide Lois Hole Digital Library. Combined, the
projects will make Alberta one of the most information-rich jurisdictions in North America. When opened, the Digital Library will
be dedicated to Calgary as a gift to recognize the community’s support of the university in its 40-year history. Total cost of the
project is an estimated $113 million. The Digital Library is expected to open to the public in the fall of 2008. (University of Calgary)
Perimeter Institute, Library, Waterloo, ON – Canada 2006
Client: Perimeter Institute, Space: 6.000 m²
The Perimeter Institute, an international center for basic research in foundational issues of theoretical physics, is located on the
shore of Silver Lake in Waterloo Park.
The building defines the secure zones of the institute's facilities within a series of parallel walls, embedded in an erupting ground
plane that reveals a large reflecting pool.
The design is inspired by the nebulous spaces occupied by the subjects of theoretical physics, at once micro- and macro-cosmic, rich
in information and of indeterminate form and substance. The facade design, with its geometrically patterned panels, is meant to
underline the nature of its occupants' investigations of mysterious natural forces. The design achieved everything in the program
within a context of stunning beauty and daring innovation.Two wings of offices are separated by a glass-roofed atrium and an
exterior courtyard. Three bridges span the exterior courtyard, to encourage easy continuance of scientific discussion for researchers,
connecting the building on the second and third levels. Each bridge culminates in an informal meeting area, overlooking either the
exterior garden or the atrium, that are visually accessible from alternate floors, enabling resident researchers to quickly assess who
is in the building throughout the day or night. There are 44 single research offices, together with larger shared offices, to
accommodate additional researchers, and 15 administrative offices. The building is flooded with natural light from the generous
amount of glass throughout the building and from the central atrium. The facility also contains a two-story library, two seminar
rooms, a large lecture theater, seating 210, and a bistro with a rooftop deck, located above the lecture theater at the eastern edge of
the building. To ensure a warm and personal atmosphere throughout, six wood-burning fireplaces are placed in lounges, informal
meeting areas and the bistro. (http://www.arcspace.com)
New Pavilion for the McGill University Schulich School of Music, Library, Montréal, QC – Canada 2005
Executive Architect: Menkès Shooner Dagenais
Constructed Area: 11,775 sqm
The design for the new Faculty of Music Building gives prominence to the southeast corner of the McGill University campus at
Sherbrooke and Aylmer Streets in downtown Montreal. The new building is adjacent to the historic Strathcona Building, the
existing home of the Faculty of Music, which houses one of the university’s main concert facilities. The new program adds to the
faculty space, and includes a library, recital hall, state-of-the-art multimedia and practice studios, and faculty offices.
The site is a narrow strip of land between Aylmer Street and the east wing of the existing faculty building. The multimedia studio
anchors the design. It is a polished limestone volume almost five stories high that is “embedded” three stories into the ground at the
north end of the lot. Practice rooms and technical studios also inhabit the underground realm south of the multimedia studio. Above
these submerged spaces, at street level, are located the recital hall and main entrance. A folded concrete plane defines these spaces
and appears to support the main body of the building above. This plane evokes an eroded ground plane leading to Montreal’s
prominent Mount Royal beyond. A three-storey high library sits immediately above the recital hall, over which are three additional
storeys of office and practice space.
The new building is linked to the older faculty buildings by a glazed bridge that runs through the main entrance hall.
The building’s east and west façades are discrete planes that frame the views of the city along Aylmer Street and toward the
mountain. The east façade is clad in black and gray zinc, with long strip windows that illuminate the office corridors, and a large
glazed opening into the library entry space. The west façade is designed to evoke musical figures-the surface pattern of matt and
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