Library Buildings around the World

Lick-Wilmerding High School Library, Arts Building, San Francico, CA – USA 1997
€ 3.600.000, 17.000 sqf.
Establishing a new space at the heart of the campus, this building’s orientation and stretch of windows take advantage of the views
of San Francisco. The second-floor library includes group study rooms, capacity for 25,000 volumes, and special exhibit space.
Studios for design/drafting, photography, and fine art are located on the first floor, as well as classrooms, faculty offices, an
electronics shop and a computer lab. (SMWM)
San Francisco Main Library, San Francisco, CA – USA 1996
SMWM with Pei Cobb Freed
€ 94.000.000, 381.000 sqf.
SMWM designed the new library to be a vital link between the Civic Center and the commerce-centric Market Street. Inside, the
library is organized around a 5-story skylit atrium, bringing sunlight into its center. Housing a vast collection of media, providing
the latest information technology and adaptable to future needs, this sustainable building welcomes all the community to visit, enjoy
and use it. (SMWM)
Newport Beach Central Library, Newport Beach, CA – USA 1994
€ 8.500.000, 55.000 sqf.
This facility is serves the community as a cultural, intellectual and civic landmark. The design balances the need for an affordable,
functional library with aspirations for a civic building by blending premium and modest materials such as long-lasting copper roofs
and green slate with simply detailed stucco. Solar orientation influenced the design of the façade to balance the need for views with
energy-conserving day lighting opportunities. (SMWM)
Clayton Community Library (Sacramento Public Library), Clayton, CA – USA 1994
€ 2.800.000, 15.000 sqf.
Marked by a sycamore grove and a field of native grasses, the site design and simple forms of the library recall the agricultural
buildings that dot the northern California landscape. The library is organized around an outdoor courtyard that serves as an
overflow space for the meeting room. The vaulted ceiling acts as an indirect lighting system, reflecting both artificial light and
natural daylight that enters through the clerestory off the light shelf. (SMWM)
Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB). Chicago, IL – USA
http://www.scb.com
Libraries:
Richard J. Klarcheck Information Commons, Loyola University, Chicago, IL – USA 2007
$ 28.300.000
Awards:
2008 Chicago Building Congress – Best New Construction
2008 IBS Award Highly Commended Honorable Mention
2007 Leaf Award Best Use of Technology
The Richard J. Klarchek Information Commons is a 69,000 sf completely digital research library that occupies a magnificent site on
the shores of Lake Michigan at the University’s Lake Shore Campus. The site is directly between the existing land-marked Madonna
Maria Della Strata Chapel and the Cudahy Library. The new Information Commons creates a dynamic and transparent eastern
edge to a new quadrangle that will be formed once an existing Jesuit residence is demolished. Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), in
conjunction with Stuttgart, Germany-based Transsolar Climate Engineering, has implemented a number of natural and mechanical
building systems and strategies that result in a totally integrated design. The result of this innovative and collaborative work is a
building that achieves a 52% energy reduction below ASHRAE-90.1-1999 minimum requirements. The Loyola Information
Commons shows fore-thought and innovation by the design team and the University. It is a flexible 24/7 library facility that will
serve the students and faculty with a high quality, energy efficient space for many years to come. It is a Silver LEED certified
building. (Solomon)
Loyola University, Museum of Art (LUMA), Chicago, IL – USA 2005
The Loyola University Museum of Art provides the University with a splendid new facility which promotes the exploration,
promotion and understanding of art and artistic expression. The museum is located in an historic building on Loyola's downtown
Chicago campus. The entry hall, which directly faces the Water Tower Park on Michigan Avenue, is a dramatic vertical volume and
strong visual cue which draws visitors up and into the museum proper on the second and third floors. The galleries provide flexible
space to display LUMA's curated shows, traveling exhibits and the Martin G. D'Arcy permanent collection. Complementing the
galleries are seminar spaces, workshop rooms for students of all ages, and a library as well as administrative and curatorial spaces.
(Solomon)
SOM.com – Skidmore, Owings & Merill LLP, Chicago,New York, San Francisco – USA
http://www.som.com
Libraries:
The New School University, University Center, New York, NY – USA 2013
New Building Will Maximize Current Footprint, Serve as Focal Point for Student Life
May 6, 2010 (New York, New York) — The Board of Trustees at The New School endorsed a plan yesterday to create a major
campus hub at 65 Fifth Avenue, a university-owned site between 13th and 14th Streets. The University Center, as the building will be
known, will add 354,000 square feet for an array of uses including new academic space, an auditorium for public programs, a central
university library, and a 612-bed dormitory with a separate entrance on Fifth Avenue. “The University Center embodies The New
School’s evolution,” said President Bob Kerrey. “This institution is in the midst of a transformation, amplifying its urban campus to
serve degree-seeking students who now make up the majority of our enrollment. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of our
curricula, the University Center provides space for students across all of The New School and its programs to interact and
collaborate.” Designed by Roger Duffy of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill [SOM], the University Center will serve as a focal point for
student life at this quintessential Greenwich Village institution. The building has been carefully designed to complement its eclectic
surroundings, affording the university a signature architectural presence that respects the massing and scale of neighboring
buildings. In addition to SOM, The New School’s partners on the project are developer The Durst Organization, Tishman
Construction and SLCE Architects, which designed dormitory interiors. Construction is scheduled to begin in August. The building
will open for the Fall 2013 semester. “Moving forward with a project of this distinction and scope augurs well for the fiscal and
intellectual health of the university,“ said Michael J. Johnston, Chair of the university’s Board of Trustees. “If a single design can
affirm a great university’s faith in the future, this one does it.” The New School, which has experienced increased enrollment over
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