Library Buildings around the World

foot facility in the Glickman Library (see: SMRT Architects). The new, 19,000-square-foot facility has a 75-seat auditorium for
lectures and school visits, the Cohen Education Center. (http://www.theforecaster.net)
Firestone Library, Princeton University, Princeton NJ – USA 1989
see also: Schwartz Silver
50.000 sqf., $ 10.000.000
Awards:
National AIA Honor Award 2002
AIA Library Building Award Grand Prize 1993
This major 50.000 sqf. expansion of one of Americas foremost academic libraries is situated at a prominent corner along historic
Nassau Street, between campus and township, and acts as an extension of the librarys two lower below-grade floors. This major
library expansion is devoted to book stack space puntuated by three new reading rooms. Related functions include reading carrels,
seminar/classrooms, offices, study spaces, and computer facilities. This building establishes a new kind of interface between the
campus and its surrounding community. At ground level, the low, upper perimeter of the building, presented as a long, stone-clad
garden wall, relates directly to the materials of the existing library while defining a new linear park along Nassau Street. This park is
terminated by a small cylindrical pavillion element that marks its important intersection location, while delivering natural top light
to a major subterranean stair hall. (Koetter)
KPF Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects, New York,NY – USA
http://www.kpf.com
Libraries:
Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,MI – USA 2008
Awards:
Interantional Design Award, Chicago Athenaeum Awards 2007
Columbus Indiana LearningCenter, Columbus, IN – USA 2005
Furman Hall, New York, University School of Law, New York, NY – USA 2004
William H.Gates Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, WA – USA 2003
Rothermere American Institute, Oxford University, Oxford – UK 2001
Awards:
RIBA Award 2003
Civic Trust Award 2003
Oxford Preservation Trust, Environmental Award 2002
First Prize, International Competion Winner, Oxford University 2002
Word Architecture Award Finalist (Green Category) 2002
The Rothermere American Institute has been described in the British press as one of the most beautifully built modern
buildings in Oxford. Dedicated by former President Bill Clinton in 2001, it stands in a leafy quarter north of the historic city
center, close to Rhodes House, an institution with close American connections, and to the 19th century complex of Mansfield
College. The Institute was created to serve as a center for research, teaching and discussion about America history, politics
and government.
The basic parti is similar to that of Basil Champney’s library at adjacent Mansfield College. In both structures, classrooms
and ancillary spaces are arranged below a great reading room, overlooking and opening onto a shared private garden
precinct. The new Institute building is sunk 11 feet below grade so that the eave line of the adjacent Mansfield College is
maintained. The building’s lowest level contains seminar rooms and opens out to a sunken terrace edging the lawn.
The position of the building on the site and of its terraces allows all four levels to take advantage of natural daylight—
especially the 23-foot-high reading room, the project focus. This double-height reading room, which faces south overlooking
the garden-galleries, contains study carrels looking down into the main space. Behind the carrels are book stacks and offices.
The vocabulary is that of exposed concrete and natural Bath stone cladding, which is used to frame finely detailed steel and
glass. The principal façade is strongly modeled, with fritted glass louvers to control solar gain and reduce the need for
mechanical ventilation. Air conditioning is eschewed in favor of nighttime cooling, which relies upon the thermal mass of the
structure and an earth-connected heat exchange system set below the garden. (KPF)
krM (Montgomery), Anderson, IN – USA
http://www.krmontgomery.com
Libraries:
West Lafayette Public Library, Lafayette IN – USA 2012 – 2013
Client: West Lafayette Public Library, Project: West Lafayette Public Library New Construction
Brick and stone in harmony with aluminum and glass. Custom terracotta medallions. A welcoming terrazzo entryway. To casual
visitors,these things could be interpreted as separate design features. But to discerning patrons, they're something more - a salute to
the region's rich culture. The team who envisioned, designed, and built the new West Lafayette Public Library worked to
understand this college town's past - as well as its promise for the future. The design was inspired by the library's collection of Frank
Lloyd Wright furniture, as well as a neighboring building designed by Louis Sullivan. The building's exterior includes a plaza that
serves as a gateway to neighboring Purdue University. The library's interior spaces were painstakingly designed to be of service
simultaneously to community members, Purdue students, staff, and volunteers. The building even makes use of an automated
materials handling system that allows staff members to focus on assisting patrons, rather than carrying books. In these ways and
more, the West Lafayette Public Library is a warehouse of knowledge and a beneficiary of it. (KRM)
Kokomo-Howard County Public Library, Kokomo, IN - USA 2010
Renovation
Tipton County Public Library, Tipton, IN – USA 2010
Client: Tipton County Public Library, Project: Tipton County Public Library Renovation and Expansion
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