Library Buildings around the World

Withworth University, Cheney Cowles Library, Spokane, WA – USA 1992
The second addition and complete remodeling of this centerpiece building includes 25,000 square feet of new space added to the
existing 27,800 square feet for a total of 52,800 square feet. This building houses a traditional academic library, research facilities,
archives, archival reading room, education curriculum library, audio-visual department, academic computing with two micro-labs,
word processing, and administrative computing for the campus. (NAC)
Nacht & Lewis Architects, Sacramento, CA – USA
http://www.nlarch.com
Libraries:
Natomas Public Library, Sacramento, CA – USA 2009
The Natomas Public Library is a joint-use effort between the City of Sacramento, Natomas Unified School District and the Los Rios
Community College District. Located on the Natomas Education Center site, this 23,000 s.f. branch library facility will serve not
only the growing Natomas community, but will serve the adjacent Inderkum High School and American River College’s Natomas
Center. The library will be the centerpiece of the Natomas Education Center and is organized along the axis of the adjacent Natomas
Town Center’s main street. The building’s entry plaza addresses the neighboring community and encompasses the library’s two
primary entrances. Marked by a clock tower, the library faces the community and emerging Natomas Town Center and forms the
western boundary of the Education Center’s central courtyard. The library entrances connect to a vaulted reading room thru a
public gallery designed for community events and the display of school art projects. The reading room is flooded with controlled
natural daylight through clerestory windows. In addition to the usual library functions, the facility includes shared computer labs,
distance learning center, study rooms and interior and exterior meeting spaces. The building incorporates numerous sustainable
features and is on track for a LEED Silver rating from the United States Green Building Council. (Nacht)
Cosumnes River College Learning Center, Los Rios College District, Sacramento, CA – USA 2004
Awards:
AIA – Central Valley Chapter Merit Award
46.000 sqf.
In 1968 Nacht & Lewis Architects developed the master plan for Cosumnes River College campus, part of the Los Rios Community
College District. Nacht & Lewis continues to add to the campus with their design of the Instructional & Library Facility, set for
construction in Spring of 2004. This is a 2 story, 43,000 s.f. building that provides two 90 seat lecture halls, classrooms, learning
resource centers, faculty offices and program administrative areas. The building design fits tightly within a formal masterplan and
utilizes brick and concrete in a contemporary manner to respond to an established campus architecture. The site development and
landscaping introduces informal pedestrian circulation and outdoor gathering areas which encourage the student and faculty use of
outdoor spaces. At night the top of each stair tower will glow as lanterns to anchor the building within the campus, and the grounds
will be accentuated with low level and LED lighting. The interior of the building utilizes extensive natural daylighting and is divided
into recognizable patterns of horizontal and vertical circultaion. Some of the design challenges include providing privacy for the staff
and faculty while maintaining open public space for student use. The facility also incorporates extensive data and technology
distribution for support of computers and learning spaces. (Nacht)
Nagle Hartray Danke Kagan McKay Penney, Chicago, IL – USA
http://www.naglehartray.com
Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL – USA 2011
Area: 78,000 square feet
Site & Program: The new home for the historic Chicago Theological Seminary is on the campus of The University of Chicago. The
program includes administrative and faculty office, classrooms, meeting rooms, a chapel, a library, a reading room, and
computer/learning commons within the first three floors. The fourth floor is dedicated for the Seminary community, housing a
larger chapel and a dining space for 300 people each. This level features terraces and green roofs to reinforce a connection to the
Midway Plaisance.
Design: Exterior design takes into consideration the surrounding campus context by incorporating stone as the primary exterior
material, in keeping with the majority of University buildings. Metal panels wrap the second and third floors on the west and south
facades. The LEED Gold building expresses its environmental stewardship in the form of green roofs, a bioswale at grade level, and
the use of local natural materials to express and enhance the connection between the spiritual and the secular.
Fountaindale Public Library, Bolingbrook, IL – USA 2011
Providing a new main library facility with ample space to serve the many needs of the community, while fitting into an otherwise
residential area, was the challenge faced by the architects for this project. The new $25-million, three-story 96,000 s.f. facility with an
additional 13,000 s.f. of basement space is the result. The site plan and building footprint are organized to create a presence for the
library along the primary access, Briarcliff Road, while maximizing views of the existing park in which it is being constructed. The
size of the floor plates approach the maximum size recommended by library planners with proportions that will provide flexibility
for the future. Plans feature green roofs that further reinforce a connection with the building’s park setting. The building has been
designed to achieved a prestigious LEED 2.2 Gold Certification. The planning for the building began as with any other, with
rectangular floor plates. As the process evolved pieces of the floors were carved away to provide a less formal form with the result
that no two floors in the building have the same footprint and the total three-dimensional volume becomes a very organic element
that fits well into the park setting. Given the varieties in the floor plates and the complexities of the shapes, reinforced concrete
proved to be an ideal structural system. Typical interior bays measuring 24’-6” x 30’-0” resulted in the selection of a two-way flat
slab system with capitals at the interior columns. The use of the concrete floor system also helped to minimize the overall structure
depth which was critical in controlling the overall height of the building. The use of high strength concrete made it possible to limit
maximum interior column size 24” x 24”. The exterior wall system chosen included a masonry veneer with light gauge stud backup
construction. The use of downturned beams at the perimeter of the floor plates allowed for the installation of a continuous shelf
angle at each floor to support the masonry veneer at the level of the window heads. The beams also helped to minimize the
deflections in the slab, a critical consideration in supporting the masonry veneer. The concrete slab system easily accommodated the
use of the selected green roof system. The sloping concrete slab of the main roof with an upturned curb at the perimeter proved ideal
for directing the required drainage to interior downspouts. In conjunction with relatively slender circular concrete columns along
the perimeter curtain wall the system provides for very dramatic stack spaces for the libraries materials. In order to provide for
resistance to lateral wind and seismic forces it was decided to include a limited number of cast-in-place concrete shear walls at the
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