Library Buildings around the World

Noll & Tam Architects designed the renovation and expansion of the Carmichael Branch of the Sacramento Library, transforming
an outdated design. The open layout features expansive window walls and a series of light wells. An expanded children’s area, adult
reading room, teen area, technology center, special collections area, community meeting room, and staff and support spaces serve the
local community. (Noll)
Fong Library, School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, CA – USA 2002
Construction Cost: $ 1.200.000
Noll & Tam Architects transformed the 4th floor of Minor Hall into a state-of-the-art student resource center for Optometry
students, comprising a new library, lecture theatre, teaching computer laboratory, and meeting rooms. The Optometry School
wanted to unify these spaces into an active student center and focal point. The project required careful coordination with existing
conditions to provide upgraded systems routed through the concrete structure. (Noll)
NTDStichler Architecture, San Diego – USA
http://www.ntdstichler.com
Libraries :
Lincoln Public Library at Zwelve Bridges Learning Center, Sierra Community College District, City of
Lincoln, CA – USA 2007
39.311 sqf., $ 11.136.000
This library is housed at a unique shared-use campus developed by Sierra Community College, Western Placer Unified School
District and the city of Lincoln. In addition to supporting blended programs that involve all students, the facilities will serve the
individual needs of Lincoln citizens, college students, high school students and business partners. The Lincoln Library represents the
first joint-use building design to emerge from the master plan. The curriculum and planning process represents a community effort
that involved all three agencies and local citizens. The library exists as a pivotal point on the site, acknowledging the space where all
parties come together. The library houses a comprehensive, multi-generational collection. This public facility is designed to be a
beacon of lifelong learning for the entire community. ( http://schooldesigns.com )
Office dA, Inc., Boston, MA
Libraries:
Fleet Library at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence RI – USA - 2007
Literature:
Architectural Record, June 2007
Office dA inserts a new sensibility within a historic shell to create the Fleet Library at RISD
By Clifford A. Pearson
How do you turn a Renaissance Revival banking hall from 1917 into a 21st-century visual-arts library and do it on a tight budget?
That was the challenge facing Office dA, the Boston-based architecture firm headed by Nader Tehrani and Monica Ponce de Leon,
when it started work on the 55,000-square-foot Fleet Library at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.
Designed by York (Edward York 1863 – 1928) & Sawyer (Philip Sawyer 1868 – 1949) and listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, the old building features an interior space 180 feet long and 114 feet wide and topped by an elaborately coffered, barrelvaulted
ceiling. The banking hall might easily have served as a magnificent reading room, if only the school had the luxury of
devoting all of it to one use. But the library's program called for 90,000 books in open stacks, seating for 250 people, 400 periodical
titles available for browsing, and a variety of different study, administrative, and multimedia support spaces.
Even with a balcony running along one side of the banking hall and a second floor wrapping around the vaulted ceiling, there wasn't
enough space for all of the programmatic elements. “We had to make the height of the space work for us,” says Tehrani, who studied
at RISD and, like his partner, has taught there. Despite initial resistance from the client's design-review committee to interrupting
the hall's impressive volume, Office dA developed a “double-decker” strategy that inserted a two-level study pavilion and a singlelevel
circulation center within the grand space.
“We wanted to maintain the scale of the banking hall,” states Ponce de Leon, “so we decided to install two objects as if they were
informal elements in an ancient ruin.” The old bank building was actually in good condition—hardly a ruin—but the architects
imagined their project as adding a new layer to a historic place, much like the multiple strata we see today at the Roman Forum.
Rather than obscuring the past, the new elements add a modern resonance. Office dA also wanted its work to have a temporary
quality that contrasts with the more permanent nature of the Italianate setting.
To respect the old building, the architects developed three different strategies for the elements added inside it. The largest pieces—
the study pavilion and the circulation center—are designed as insertions, milled by computer-numerical-controlled (CNC)
machinery off-site, and then assembled quickly inside the banking hall. Their prefabricated nature not only sets them apart from
their historic context but implies they could be dismantled and carted away if needs change in the future.
(http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/interiors/archives/0706fleet.asp)
Accolades and Recognition for RISD Fleet Library
Providence, RI and Boston, MA - July 20, 2007 – Shawmut Design and Construction (www.shawmut.com), a $700 million national
construction management firm, along with the architecture firm of Office dA, both of Boston, MA, are announcing several recent
award wins and feature articles on Fleet Library at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, RI.
The Fleet Library, located in the main hall of the historic 1920 Hospital Trust Bank building in downtown Providence, is an example
of the successful synergy of preservation, architecture, construction and programming. The project team was able to not only
preserve this special space, but improve its functionality, and increase its lifespan within the context of Providence’s historical
character. The project clearly has not only positively impacted the college community, but has significantly added to the character
and charm of the Down City section of Providence.
The main goal of this challenging project was to preserve and restore the unique character of the historic interior, while providing
RISD with ample room to house their extensive collection and an inviting place to study and interact with fellow students. To solve
this issue, two modular birch-plywood pavilions were placed within the open hall to provide study and service spaces for the new
library – this innovative solution kept the majestic feeling of the original interior completely intact, while realizing all of RISD’s
program areas. One pavilion, a “study island,” features a broad amphitheater-type stair, where students can sit and informally
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