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Library Buildings around the World

Library Buildings around the World

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Wedged between two courtyards, <strong>the</strong> pavilion-like structure is home to a café, student lounge, and lecture hall. Above it is a rooftop<br />

garden complete with dining areas, teaching and study spaces, and special-event capabilities. Indoor-outdoor social and academic<br />

activities are found elsewhere in <strong>the</strong> building, like <strong>the</strong> student lounge, whose movable glass walls open to a courtyard.<br />

A clear set of project objectives—flexibility, shared spaces, appealing street presence, improved circulation, beauty, and materials<br />

that match <strong>the</strong> stature of <strong>the</strong> school—led to <strong>the</strong> stunning results.<br />

A site challenge<br />

Conquering constraints may be why this project is so successful. It was no easy task to fit <strong>the</strong> addition into a former courtyard<br />

surrounded by <strong>the</strong> law school. The creative solution—to put two floors under ground—led to extraordinary results. It resolved <strong>the</strong><br />

pedestrian traffic jams in <strong>the</strong> former overly packed library stacks by moving <strong>the</strong> collection into automated compact shelving in <strong>the</strong><br />

new addition’s two underground levels.<br />

Surprisingly, <strong>the</strong>se underground floors are filled with daylight. An expanse of glass connects <strong>the</strong> addition to <strong>the</strong> original structure<br />

and, in <strong>the</strong> process, allows daylight into <strong>the</strong> lower levels. Glass paving in <strong>the</strong> courtyards and skylights in <strong>the</strong> planter beds serve as<br />

daylighting conduits to a very pleasant and open experience on <strong>the</strong> lower levels. That’s ingenious.<br />

A wonderland<br />

Dark-stained cork flooring is a dramatic stage on which light and <strong>the</strong> neutral tones of <strong>the</strong> elegant materials and finishes perform.<br />

Along with <strong>the</strong> cork flooring, variegated cedar clads <strong>the</strong> ceilings above <strong>the</strong> reference desk to buffer sound and create <strong>the</strong> quiet<br />

needed for legal study. A monumental staircase of glass and granite is ano<strong>the</strong>r conduit for light into <strong>the</strong> lower levels as well as a<br />

suggestive link between indoor and outdoor spaces. The backdrop of Indiana white limestone walls as well as figured eucalyptus<br />

walls makes this library a wonderland of beauty.<br />

The building is on track for LEED Gold certification, and its sustainable strategies include an important symbolic gesture—<br />

restoration and reuse of <strong>the</strong> 100-year-old mahogany study carrels from <strong>the</strong> original building.<br />

The addition becomes more open, airy, and public as it rises from floor to floor. At <strong>the</strong> lowest level is <strong>the</strong> least natural light, <strong>the</strong> most<br />

stacks, and some reader seats. The next level up has skylights, and it is used for staff offices, <strong>the</strong> service desk, reading rooms,<br />

conference space, and a student center. The third level up is dedicated to <strong>the</strong> café, lecture hall, lounge, and classrooms. Finally, <strong>the</strong><br />

fourth level contains <strong>the</strong> main reading room, dean’s conference room, classrooms, and a bridge. Visitors crossing over <strong>the</strong> bridge<br />

find a comfortable rooftop garden designed for outdoor learning and relaxation.<br />

This addition, thoughtfully detailed to take advantage of <strong>the</strong> vista, including views of <strong>the</strong> Golden Gate Bridge, ties elegantly to <strong>the</strong><br />

existing buildings and courtyard spaces. Who wouldn’t want to walk by this building and, perhaps, stop and rest on its steps or in its<br />

café? A simple open and transparent box, it makes <strong>the</strong> most of <strong>the</strong> space to meet programmatic needs while creating a meditative<br />

experience for students and faculty.<br />

“This is a wonderful diminutive project that ties to some real hulks of buildings in a delicate and beautiful way. It makes <strong>the</strong> existing<br />

buildings much richer, better,” one of <strong>the</strong> judges wrote.<br />

If buildings could talk, <strong>the</strong> ones surrounding this gem would sing its praises.<br />

(http://lj.librariesjournal.com/2012/06/buildings/national-landmark-academic-library-2-berkeley-law-library-university-ofcalifornia-berkeley)<br />

Foothill-De Anza Community College District, Media and Learning Center, Cupertino CA – USA 2010<br />

RATCLIFF programmed and designed <strong>the</strong> new Media and Learning Center for De Anza College, a two-story synergistic<br />

environment where students, teachers and staff participate in state-of-<strong>the</strong>-art, technology-enhanced teaching and learning.<br />

At <strong>the</strong> initial phase of <strong>the</strong> design, RATCLIFF provided feasibility studies to develop alternate site planning options to <strong>the</strong> original<br />

master plan. Based on <strong>the</strong> study recommendations, De Anza College made <strong>the</strong> decision to realign <strong>the</strong> existing loop road and turn <strong>the</strong><br />

building 90 degrees to an east-west axis. This placed <strong>the</strong> building in an optimum solar orientation, maximizing <strong>the</strong> building<br />

perimeter for day lighting and harvesting solar energy. The new building is designed to attain LEED® Platinum certification. The<br />

new road alignment demarcated a larger building site, opening up an opportunity to create a new campus quad adding outdoor<br />

teaching/learning spaces and a landscaped ga<strong>the</strong>ring place for social interaction. The building contains classrooms, laboratories, TV<br />

studio and departmental spaces for Distance Learning, Staff Development and Tech Resources. Organized <strong>around</strong> a sky-lit atrium,<br />

<strong>the</strong> building integrates ga<strong>the</strong>ring spaces with circulation, creating converging crossroads where spontaneous encounters can take<br />

place. A modular planning approach ensures <strong>the</strong> flexibility to adapt <strong>the</strong> building to future changes in use and technology. Universal<br />

classroom modules can easily be re-configured to accommodate different seminar, lecture and small group settings. Adjacent pairs of<br />

40-50 seat classroom modules can be joined to create larger 80-100 seat classrooms. (Ratcliff)<br />

Peralta Community College District Laney College, Computer Technology Center, Oakland, CA – USA<br />

2006<br />

Ratcliff renovated a vocational educational space (formerly a welding shop), into a multi-use technology center serving as a generalpurpose<br />

multimedia teaching laboratory for <strong>the</strong> Laney College campus. Located on <strong>the</strong> ground floor, <strong>the</strong> newly renovated space<br />

offers state-of-<strong>the</strong>-art technology, serves as a model of current trends in CIS technology and provides a new entry sequence and<br />

prominent new identity for <strong>the</strong> building. Developed in collaboration with local community business and educational leaders, <strong>the</strong><br />

Center was designed to meet <strong>the</strong> varied needs of <strong>the</strong> diverse communities that <strong>the</strong> College serves and includes two 24-station<br />

laboratory classrooms, two 42-station specialized multimedia labs, offices and conference room all organized <strong>around</strong> a secure central<br />

control room/hub in an architecturally innovative and ergonomically engineered setting. The underside of <strong>the</strong> original welding shop<br />

offered an expansive atmosphere and allowed for <strong>the</strong> reflection of light from <strong>the</strong> suspended up-lighting. The perforated metal screen<br />

ceiling is shaped to reflect <strong>the</strong> concentric layout of training tables and creates a more intimate environment with <strong>the</strong> illusion of a<br />

lower ceiling. The judicious application of materials establishes a distinctive and lean aes<strong>the</strong>tic while also creating a feeling of<br />

opennessDeveloped in collaboration with local community business and educational leaders, <strong>the</strong> Center was designed to meet <strong>the</strong><br />

varied needs of <strong>the</strong> diverse communities that <strong>the</strong> College serves and includes two 24-station laboratory classrooms, two 42-station<br />

specialized multimedia labs, offices and conference room all organized <strong>around</strong> a secure central control room/hub in an<br />

architecturally innovative and ergonomically engineered setting. The underside of <strong>the</strong> original welding shop offered an expansive<br />

atmosphere and allowed for <strong>the</strong> reflection of light from <strong>the</strong> suspended up-lighting. The perforated metal screen ceiling is shaped to<br />

reflect <strong>the</strong> concentric layout of training tables and creates a more intimate environment with <strong>the</strong> illusion of a lower ceiling.<br />

The judicious application of materials establishes a distinctive and lean aes<strong>the</strong>tic while also creating a feeling of openness that invites<br />

daylight and quality air flow. Oriented strand board is creatively applied and provides balance within <strong>the</strong> space, offering both hard<br />

surfaces and an organic texture from <strong>the</strong> natural world. This minimal approach toward finishing <strong>the</strong> space reflects our<br />

environmental philosophy to use only what is needed. (Ratcliff)<br />

Peralta Community College District: Berkeley City College New Campus: Berkeley City College,<br />

Berkeley, CA – USA 2006<br />

Peralta Community College District selected RATCLIFF to design a permanent campus for Berkeley City College. The new $46<br />

million, 165,000 s.f. facility, completed in 2006, accommodates all existing academic programs and administrative space, as well as<br />

providing flexibility for growth as programs evolve to meet <strong>the</strong> needs of <strong>the</strong> community in a “single building urban campus” setting.<br />

Located in downtown Berkeley, <strong>the</strong> college benefits from its proximity to local resources such as <strong>the</strong> Berkeley Repertory Theater,<br />

Public <strong>Library</strong>, <strong>the</strong> University of California, and public transit.<br />

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