Library Buildings around the World

purpose that promotes Sacred Heart University's progressive and comprehensive approach to business management, career success,
and global competition as well as preparation for the dynamic and creative educators of tomorrow. The building is also the starting
point of a sequence of buildings and a network of open spaces that includes the Great Green, the chapel, and the Linda E. McMahon
Commons—each also designed by Sasaki and tied together by pedestrian paths leading diagonally through campus.
Sasaki's design balances the traditional with the contemporary, creating a professional and collaborative environment realized
through the various learning spaces and courtyards in and around the building and its connection to the main campus. The structure
provides classrooms that support various pedagogical platforms of teaming, individual studies, and distant learning. The building
also houses The Executive Leadership Institute, which gathers national and international speakers to address the contemporary
issues confronting business and education. Technology is the backbone of the building, supporting learning at all levels. A food
service and a dining area fosters discussions and collegial interactions. The building also houses support offices for both schools as
well as the new deans' offices. A below-grade parking structure accommodates 138 cars.
The courtyard serves as a common open space and the nexus of student life. Green carpet alternates with crushed stone pathways
and loose furniture provides flexible seating. Within the building, areas for group study overlook the courtyard through a
transparent glass skin to provide a nearly seamless transition from the inside to the outside.
The courtyard also ties together the main entry court and lower entry court. The main entry court includes reflective water feature
integrated with sculptural art. Seat walls in the landscape, shaded by trees, offer informal areas for gathering. The lower entry court
provides a pedestrian connection to the campus to the south, and creates an iconic view of the archway for those approaching from
campus. The lower entry court, the courtyard, and the main entry court at Park Avenue are all tied together by a series of sculptural
trees.
Sasaki's proposed streetscape improvements along Park Avenue consist of a sidewalk flanked by rows of street trees that echo the
building geometry. A stone wall is envisioned as a continuous element that ties the Sacred Heart streetscape to the golf course and
larger context beyond. (Sasaki)
Dixie State College, Jeffrey R. Holland Centenial Common Building, St. George, UT – USA 2012
Size 185,000 SF., Cost $45 million, Statuscompleted September 2012, TeamVCBO Architects, LEED® Gold certification goal
Awards:
Merit Award, International Interior Design Association Rocky Mountain Chapter, with VCBO Architects
People's Choice Award, International Interior Design Association Rocky Mountain Chapter, with VCBO Architects
The Holland Centennial Commons (HCC) is the intellectual, academic, and social hub of Dixie State College. Centrally located in the
heart of Dixie's historic Encampment Mall, this signature building houses the library, classrooms, academic offices, student services,
and business services. The HCC is the keystone of Dixie State's overall campus growth and is described as a "student success
center." At 170,000 square feet in five stories, the Centennial Commons provides the much needed space Dixie requires to fulfill its
mission of student centered learning. Considered a top priority by Dixie administrators and the Utah State Board of Regents, the
HCC is the largest state appropriation for the institution in its near 100-year history. The HCC is highly functional and symbolizes
Dixie State's emergence as a four year academic college—a significant milestone on its trajectory toward becoming a regional state
university.
A modern, technology-enriched library is the HCC's largest program element. At its heart is a digital commons. Visible and readily
accessible from the entrance foyer, the commons is highly collaborative and socially stimulating. A monumental cascading staircase
with views over the campus mall and to the peaks of Zion National Park in the distance circulates upward, allowing library users
access to the increasingly quiet book stacks and private study areas.
Integrated at the top of the library space is the English Department. It includes flexible classrooms that facilitate innovative teaching
and learning techniques as well as a variety of group and individual study spaces, areas suited to computer-based learning, a writing
center, and tutoring services.
The HCC places all student services in a one-stop location at the lower entry level, including registration, financial aid, advising, and
counseling. The split level design connects major functions with multi-story lobbies and ensures the building's arrangement is clear
to visitors.
The building design responds to the region's geography and relatively harsh desert climate. Targeting LEED Gold certification, the
design team carefully considered a climate-appropriate material palette reflective of the building's surroundings. Exterior shading
devices introduce and regulate natural light. Calculated distribution of building openings depends on the building's orientation,
maximizing daylighting conditions. (Sasaki)
UMKC Miller Nichols Library and Interactive Learning Center, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO
– USA 2010
Size14,000 SF, Cost $14.5 million, Status completed October 2010, Team: Peckham Guyton Albers & Viets
This project proposes a new vision for the role of libraries in public universities, one that supports and encourages the major
transformations in learning that have characterized higher education in recent years. Fundamental to this vision is an integration of
social and academic life on the campus in a dynamic new library that will serve commuter students and the local community, while
creating a campus crossroads for an expanding residential student body. The Miller Nichols Library and Academic Commons
project consists of renovations to the existing library along with a major addition that doubles the footprint of the facility. This new
addition sits on structured parking for 550 cars. Throughout the library there will be a programmatic blending of spaces dedicated
to classrooms, collection materials, research, and social interaction and collaboration. Central to this arrangement will be a dramatic
four story high academic commons that looks out over the Kansas City skyline. Situated at the heart of the campus, the Miller
Nichols Library and Academic Commons will be immediately adjacent to the new student center, also being designed by Sasaki. By
combining collection space with instruction and social space, this project will transform the academic experience at UMKC and put
the University at the forefront of developing an approach that improves quality while containing cost. (SASAKI)
Morris A. Soper Library and Information Technology Centre, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD –
USA 2009
In association with Design Collective, Incorporated and FON Architects.
Size 220,000 SF, Cost $60 million, Status completed April 2008, Team Design Collective, Inc., FON Architects, PA
Morgan State's new library and student center form The Commons, the campus's new center and a point of mediation between the
older academic section and a newer residential precinct. As one of the two new signature buildings on campus, the library had to
balance a sense of importance and renewed pride with an equal sense of transparency and welcome – "impressive, not oppressive,"
in the client's words. Flexibility was also key. After extensive study and testing, a system of 12' by 27' modules was arrived at as a
basis for the entire interior layout. Divisible by three, these modules match the three-foot shelving modules and allow stack areas to
be easily converted into classrooms, seminar rooms, open group study, etc., as well as back to stack space as collection needs require.
To the east, the library serves to strengthen and animate the pedestrian mall with a glass curtain wall. A curvilinear wing wraps
around the northern and western edges and is partially topped with a sedum green roof, which can be viewed from key interior
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