Library Buildings around the World

Mexico
Legorreta + Legorreta, Mexico City – Mexico
Ricardo Legoretta *07.05.1931 Mexico City - +30.12.2011
http://legorretalegoretta.com
Libraries:
Postgraduate Building, Faculty of Economics, UNAM, Library, Mexico City – Mexico 2010
Location: Mexico City, Mexico, Area: 5,500 m², Client: Universidad Autónoma de México, UNAM, Interior Design: Legorreta +
Legorreta, Landscape: Legorreta + Legorreta, Year: 2010
Awards:
Award to “Project of the year 2010″. Obras Magazine. Mexico
The building is located in the south of Mexico City, in the main campus of UNAM, in an area designated for buildings of the
postgraduate programs, near the sculpture space, an emblematic place in the city. The building has a base covered with rock to
integrate it to the natural stone in the site and create the impression that the building emerges from the existing rock. On top of this
base there are two important volumes, and one of them is resting on top of the other one, but rotated 90 º and creating a cantilever.
There is a bridge on the first volume that creates a big window which frames an ecological area and at the same time is the visual
culmination of the communication axe with the other postgraduate buildings, achieving with this a better integration to the context.
(Legorreta)
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Library, Doha – Qatar 2011
Location: Doha, Qatar, Area: 50,000 m², Client: KEO International Consultants, Associate Architect: Francisco Cortina
Landscape: Landscape Architects Inc., Carter, Romanek, Year: 2011
School of Foreign Service, of Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service the Georgetown University’s’ Campus in Qatar, is
integrated within the northern side of the Education City Campus.
The mayor design intent is to break down the monumentally of the overall building to a more human scale to achieve a feel
like home atmosphere making the students feel comfortable. The building is a composition of various smaller departments in
order to give it a village-like character. (Legorreta)
Carnegie Mellon College of Business and Computer Science, Education City, Doha – Qatar 2009
Location: Doha, Qatar, Area: 40,000 m², Client: Qatar Foundation and Qatar Petroleum, Associate Architect: Francisco
Cortina, Executive Architect: Halcrow Consulting Engineers and Architects Ltd., Year: 2009
In Education City the government of Qatar, under the leadership of Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani and his wife
Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser al-Missned, has been investing the money earned by their country from oil and natural gas in
education. It is a great challenge to design universities that symbolize the future of education in the Arab world,
demonstrating an openness to the Western world while maintaining their own Islamic identity. Without a doubt these efforts
in the field of education will transform this society and prepare it for the 21st century. (Legoretta)
South Chula Vista Library – USA 1995
Location: Chula Vista, U.S.A., Area: 4,000 m², Client: Chula Vista City, U.S.A., Associate Architect: Leason Pomeroy
Architects Interior Design: Marshall Brown & Assoc. Year: 1995
Awards:
1995 Orchid Award for Architecture, handicapped accessibility, graphics and signage, interiors, landscape architecture,
lighting and planning
The educational needs of a growing multicultural population in the border area and reaffirm the interest of the union of two
cultures led to design this building with outstanding abstract geometric shapes in the landscape of the city of Chula Vista.
The different scales of the volumes to identify the various areas within the Library and foster within them that define
different spaces and public areas of privacy. (Legoretta)
San Antonio Central Library, San Antonio, TX – USA 1995
Location: San Antonio, U.S.A., Area: 22,300 m², Client: San Antonio City, U.S.A., Associate Architect: Davis Sprinkle &
Robey Architects, Executive Architect: Johnson – Dempsey & Assoc., Year: 1995
Awards:
1995 Imagineer Award “The Mind Science Foundation”
The city of San Antonio requested a building that the community could celebrate as its own. The program required state-of-
the-art technology for the information access. The design challenge was to achieve an architecture identifiable as a public
building while accommodating the library functions. Described by local critics as an “ingenious blending of design and
function”, the new building expands the role that the library is expected to assume. Books remain a critical element, but
architecture, art, and technology also received due consideration. The design seeks to entices visitors to discover something
new on each visit and thus to attract them back for repeat visits.
The geometry of rotated and cutaway boxes was largely determined by fitting the spatial requirements into the site while
generating a friendly and inviting building. The exterior is a visual wonderland of shapes, angles, and openings that create
an interplay of light and shadow, both inside and outside. At street level a stone wainscot introduces scale. A sense of
mystery is evoked by blending natural light, shadow, and geometric forms. The main mass of the library is a six-story box
surrounding a yellow skylit atrium that serves as a focal point for each floor. Several terraces are accented by large
geometric constructions. Triangluar and rectangular baffle walls painted purple or yellow on the third-floor terrace invite
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