Library Buildings around the World

University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Health Sciences Library, Denver, CO – USA 2007
As a joint venture with Davis Partnership Architects of Denver, Centerbrook designed this 116,000-square-foot medical library,
which is located along the center quadrangle of the new University of Colorado Health Science Center campus. The library serves
the medical school, four hospitals, and numerous biomedical research facilities. Designed as a social bridge between all campus
disciplines, the library's prominent location near public transportation creates a gateway welcoming community use, as well.
The library provides public access at the first floor and becomes increasingly private and quiet on upper floors. The facility includes
collection storage with a reading room as well as indoor and outdoor private and team study spaces. It also includes administrative
offices, reference services, classrooms, a conference center, a learning resource center, systems-database support, education and
health informatics support, and storage of and access to a History of Medicine rare book collection. (Centerbrook)
University of Colorado, Wolf Law School, Boulder, CO – USA 2007
Centerbrook is the Design Architect. Davis Partnership Architects of Denver is the Architect of Record.
The Wolf Law School is prominently sited at the south entrance of the University of Colorado in Boulder and acts as a gateway to
the campus. The building was designed to recall and reinforce the distinctive character of the historic Boulder campus. The campus
was originally characterized by low-scale, sandstone buildings with tile roofs. Much of this quality was missing in recent campus
architecture and the University wanted it restored. The Law School is constructed of local red sandstone with limestone details and a
red tile roof. It is five stories tall and steps back at its upper floors to maintain the scale of the historic campus. It is "L" shaped and
orientated around a large courtyard opening to the southwest, providing views of the Flatiron Mountains throughout the building.
Benches and shade trees fill the courtyard, making it an informal social space and community center for the School. The building
has courtrooms, classrooms, seminar rooms, faculty offices, a law clinic, a student center, and a law library. Classrooms have
wireless networking and video conferencing capabilities for distance-learning. There are internet-based video recording stations and
interview rooms as well as digital information kiosks on all floors. The law library is an integral part of the Law School, easily
accessible from classrooms and faculty offices. It is the regional archive for the United States government, making it the most
complete law library in Colorado. The Law School has received a LEED Gold Rating from the U. S. Green Building Council.
(http://www.centerbrook.com)
Manchester Community College, Library, Manchester, CT – USA 2003
This 35,000-square-foot library is the lynchpin of a 250,000 square foot expansion of Manchester Community College. The library
was envisioned as a learning resource center where students could retrieve information from books, periodicals, and other written
documents as well as from electronic sources such as CD ROMs, the Internet, DVDs, and videos. The library is a largely open, onefloor
space arrayed around a central circulation desk. The ceiling pops up into raised areas with clerestory windows in several
important places, including the circulation desk, a large reading lounge with a fireplace, and a study area. Breakout rooms and
lounge spaces invite students to gather and work in groups. Lighting for study areas and stacks are custom-designed uplights, which
produce comfortable, non-glare illumination and afford flexibility in adjusting stack locations in the future. Sculpture and art is
brought into the building and integrated into lounge areas for the enjoyment of patrons. The goal is to create a bright, friendly, and
sociable environment where the college's students feel welcome and at home. (http://www.centerbrook.com)
Mark Twain Library, Redding, CT – USA 2000
The Mark Twain Library was established in 1910 through the efforts of Samuel Clemens' daughter, Jean Clemens, to create and
endow a library in memory of her father (Mark Twain) who spent his last years in Redding under her care. Many of the original
books were from Mark Twain's personal library. The original building was built with help from the local townspeople and friends of
Mark Twain. Slow but steady population growth in the 1970s resulted in an addition built of exposed concrete. In keeping with the
philosophy of central library "control," then popular, the addition was round with a central circulation desk. This allowed a small
staff to survey the entire facility from a single vantage point. Further community growth in the 1980s and 1990s and rapid changes
in information technology created the need for renovations and expansion. The Library Board worked with Centerbrook to shape a
facility that would respond to present and future community needs. The new addition screens the view of the 1970s concrete
structure and serves as the entrance to the library. The choice of shapes and materials is intended to complement the surrounding
New England community. The addition contains the children's functions, separating the noise associated with children's activities
from the main library. The center of the existing round building was reshaped as a display area, (vaguely reminiscent of a river boat
paddle wheel). The display cases can be moved to allow larger public functions. At the far end of the central axis sits a restored
sculpture of Mark Twain surrounded by characters from many of his stories. The architectural frieze around the entire facility is
composed of quotes from Mark Twain's lectures and novels. The original Mark Twain Library building has been renovated for
special collections and is available for public functions, meetings, and musical performances. (Centerbrook)
Quinnipac University, Arnold Bernhard Library, Hamden, CT – USA 2000
This project undertook the renovation and expansion of a thoroughly inadequate library built in 1969 for a then young New England
college. The front of the old building was remodeled to make its spire a beacon of radiating light and to provide a stepped
proscenium at the spire's base for socializing and frequent ceremonies and concerts. The rear of the building was largely demolished
and replaced with a larger addition now open to a wooded glade and the panorama of stream and mountain beyond. Inside, the old
structure was reduced from three floors to two, merged via a skylit rotunda and open balconies. There is a variety of ambiences
ranging from the lively cyber café to the secluded team study rooms cantilevered out into the treetops. The library includes the
Lender Family Special Collections Room housing a unique American exhibit on An Gorta Mor, the Great Hunger in Ireland during
the late-nineteenth century. The exhibit features paintings, sculptures, an illustrated history, and a comprehensive collection of
published materials. In addition to answering current functional and technical demands, Centerbrook saw the building as having the
power, through its unique language of procession, emotion, and symbolism, to be an alternative to, or a sanctuary from the more
troubling aspects of the cultural environment students must contend with today. Its design was to be informed by the core
philosophical concerns of humankind: knowledge, individual conduct, and governance. First, Centerbrook sought to make it a place
that celebrates the life of the mind. Computer access to knowledge is not relegated to enclosed rooms but is instead integrated into
the building along with over a hundred artworks spanning centuries. Second, the more admirable traits of individual conduct were
considered and the organization of the building was made rational, structured, and processional. An important goal was to achieve
the attributes of craft and care and a balance between rationality and emotion; a balance between exuberance and serenity. Perhaps
most importantly, Centerbrook strove to make a place of harmony and beauty that would nurture contemplation. Third, both within
the library and at its front door, settings for social interaction and forums for a public life were created, both essential constructs of a
sense of community and the polis. Out of these three aspects of knowledge, conduct, and community, Centerbrook attempted to
make of the building a symbol of humankind's highest aspirations, and, like Ariadne's gift of the golden cord to Theseus, help
students to more easily find their way out of the labyrinth. (Centerbrook)
University of Connecticut, Homer D. Babbidge Library Information Cafes, Storrs, CT – USA 1998
Awards:
AIA Connecticut Design Award
The Information Cafés are the centerpiece of the University Electronic Information Center, inserted into the Homer D. Babbidge
Library. Each is laid out in an open plan cluster of several hexagonal workstations. The effect of the clusters is of a sociable café, a
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