Library Buildings around the World

AIA Washington Council Civic Design Award 2003
The Spellman Library at Grays Harbor College was a 1960s concrete and brick structure with multiple inaccessible levels that was
inwardly-focused and separated from the campus quadrangle by a moat of inaccessible open space. Schacht Aslani designed an Lshaped
addition that wraps around the original building, opening up the interior space of the library and connecting it to a
reconfigured central quadrangle. The building's multiple levels were reduced to two major levels with an intermediate lobby at the
level of the quadrangle. The lobby provides space for the campus art gallery and access to an elevator that connects the two major
reconfigured levels of the building. The addition integrates the library with the campus and provides needed additional space for
library functions and flexible spaces for both individual and group learning. (Schacht)
Squaxin Island Tribe Library & Museum, Shelton, WA – USA 2002
Predesign, site, architectural & interior design for 13,000 sf building providing integrated library & exhibit space, classrooms, offices
& gift shop.
The MLRC brings together the best features of libraries and museums as places for culture and community. In a contemporary
interpretation of the plankhouse archetype, the museum and library are located together in a single, great hall that integrates the
two functions. The design marries the visual, experiential qualities of an exhibit gallery with the accessible, educational
characteristics of a reading room. The individual components of the museum and the library - displays, bookshelves, reading areas,
computer stations and information center - are woven into an integrated whole. Book collections are organized in relation to subject
matter so that a display of baskets, for example, is accompanied by related reading materials. Supporting these activities are
adjacent classrooms, which provide space for crafts and language classes, seminars and lectures. The librarian's desk is next to the
front door and serves as a central point of orientation for the entire facility - providing a place where visitors can go for information
and resource materials or just to talk about Squaxin Island culture. (http://www.squaxinislandmuseum.org)
Schwartz / Silver Architects, Inc., Boston,MA – USA
http://www.schwartzsilver.com
Libraries:
Billings Library, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT – USA on design (2016)
Billings was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson (*29.09.1838 Priestly Plantation, Louisiana - + 27.04.1886 Brookline, MA) as the
university´s library and was expanded in similar style by Richardson´s partners the year after his death in 1886 (Like the Crane
Library in Quincy Massachusetts, designed a few years earlier, this library is Romanesque in style. Unlike some of Richardson's
works, however, this is reddish brown sandstone, without contrasting trim. See also: Childs, Bertman, Tseckares) (H.H.Richardson:
Winn Memorial Library, Woburn, MA 1876-79, Ames Memorial Library, North Easton, MA 1877, Crane Library Quincy, Quincy,
MA 1881, Converse Memorial Library, Malden, MA 1885 – AJW). Following the construction of a new library building in 1961,
Billings was renovsted as a student center, with a major addition in 1984. Schwartz/Silver is now returning the building to something
claose to its original function, as the University´s Special Collections Library. (Schwartz/Silver)
Main Historical Society Library, Portland, Maine – USA 2009
The expansion of the Alida Carroll and John Marshall Brown Library, the research library of the Maine Historical Society, is the
first phase of Schwartz/Silver´s master plan for the institution. The 1907 library has been restored and linked to a future museum by
a corridor under the garden. At the rear of the old building, a 1960’s addition has been removed, and a new three-story wing takes
its place. The new wing houses rare books in compact storage and a temperature and humidity controlled conservation
environment. Behind the glassy west façade, offices and meeting rooms overlook the restored garden.
Program: Reading rooms, open stack areas, collection storage in conservation environment, offices, meeting rooms, staff work
spaces, and administrative offices. (Schwartz)
Burke High School and Combined Public Library, Boston, MA – USA 2006
The Jeremiah E. Burke High School is located in Dorchester, Boston´s largest and most diverse neighborhood. The renovation and
addition to the school includes a combined public and school library, a community center, and a gymnasium. The Boston Public
Library´s branch library stretches along the street with a two-story-high glass façade. An open stair connects to the high school
library above. And at the top of the new wing is a competition-sized school gymnasium, with special floor construction to isolate
naoise. (Schwartz)
Milton Central Library, Milton, MA – USA 2006
Like many towns in New England, Milton has a main public library built at the turn of the 19 th Century und der the influence of the
reformers of the “City Beautiful Movment””. The Schwartz/Silver expansion is behind the original structure. The entrance to the
historic library is maintained, but the new construction provides an opportunity to offer a more permeable, “friendly” library
experience. (Schwartz)
Andlinger Center for the Humanities, Princeton University, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ – USA
2004
Awards:
Preservation Honor Award of the Historical Society of Princeton
Schwartz/Silver was engaged to develop an integrated Humanities Center at Princeton, in two of the university´s earliest examples of
gothic revival architecture: Chancellor Green and East Pyne. The two buildings, campletet in 1873 and 1897 by the architect
William Appleton Potter (*08.12.1842 Schenectady,NY - + 19.02.1909 Rome, Italy), has served as Princeton´s library for 50 years.
After another 50 years, the decision was made to convert the buildings into the Humanities Center, comprising departments in
cultural and language studies, comparative literature and linguistics. The architectural challenge was to significantly enlarge the
buildings, and create important new entrances to the Center from the surrounding campus, while preserving their landmark historic
character. Like many ninetheenth century libraries, East Pyne was built without integrated strctural floors. Walkways for librarians
were installed as part of the library stacks, which rose the full height of the building. In 1948, when the building was converted for
office uses, steel floor framing was added, but in the north wing of the building the floor elevations did not align with neighboring
floors in order to accomodate a cafeteria above the unexecaved basement level. To eliminate this misalignment, the 1948 structure
was removed and replaced with new steel to create consistent floor levels throughout the building. Once that was accomplished, the
lower level was dug out. A major feature of the original gothic revival structures was their leaded glass windows. After a century of
exposure, many windows were leaking or damaged. The original lead “cames”, which held the individual panes of glass in place,
were sagging. Lead has little strength and is very soft and malleable, so a continuing stress of even relatively small proportions will
give rise to continuing creep. All of the building windows were removed for restoration. Within the shop, each piece of glass was
dismantled and cleaned, broken pieces replaced with similarly colored and textured hand-made glass, and new lead cames soldered
into place. The restored windows were then reinstalled. (Schwartz)
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