Library Buildings around the World

Louisiana based Trahan Architects, a firm with expertise in institutional design and religious architecture (check the Holy Rosary
Church Complex, remarkable project), recently unveiled conceptual design for the renovation and expansion of the River Center
Branch Library. The project stands at the intersection between civic buildings and the city’s arts and entertainment district,
overlooking a new town square. This new building becomes an urban piece, exposing the interior activity to the outside with a
rippled translucent skin. But also the library takes care of the exterior, with reading areas and a urban patio. As with changes on
how people consume information, the typical library approach as a storage/reading facility gets obsolete. In response to this, the
project is a public place for gathering and sharing around information, with circulation patterns that place stationary structures in
the center of the floors and create space for staff and patron interaction, with movable parts and multiple paths along the perimeter.
During this days, the changes of information trough technology challenge library designs, while offering an opportunity to become
important public spaces among our cities. In this way, I think this concept has a good start. (archdaily)
Bernhard Tschumi Architects, New York NY - USA, Paris –France
http://www.tschumi.com
Libraries:
Institut Le Rosey, Rolle, Vaud – Switzerland in construction (2013)
Le Rosey is located on the shores of Lake Geneva, near Rolle. Among the most prestigious educational institutions in
Europe, the school is alma mater to diplomats, business leaders, and royalty. The existing campus has a cohesive, traditional
architecture marked by mansard roofs and a wedge-shaped campus plan that opens onto the site, defining an open-ended
court. The design began with the question of how to expand the campus with a contemporary building, fostering a dialogue
between tradition and modernity, while updating the arts and performance facilities for a new generation of students.
The winning scheme proposes a low, stainless-steel dome that defines the site and spatially organizes the disparate parts of
the program: an 800-seat concert hall, a black box theater, conference rooms, a learning center joined to a library, a
teaching center, practice rooms for music and the arts, and several relaxation spaces featuring a restaurant, a cafe, a student
lounge, and other amenities. A series of side openings articulates the periphery of the dome, and a terrace is cut into the
center near the apex, offering views of Lake Geneva. The main interior space is the concert hall, with programmatic zones
around its periphery that are articulated into an architectural promenade. From the campus, the keystone-shaped terminus
of the quadrangle forms a ceremonial entrance to the project and the slope of the dome echoes the undulating landscape
near Rolle. The reflective steel will provide a distinctive identity and a landmark for the school and the region.
The building’s compact shape minimizes its external surface area, acting as a thermal shield. This provision reduces energy
consumption and shelters the large interior spaces under the dome with a minimum of material. The reflective polished steel
offers additional energy savings over traditional cladding materials and shelters the glazed areas from sun and inclement
weather. (Tschumi)
URS Corporation, San Francisco, CA – USA
http://www.urscorp.com
Libraries:
Auburn High School, Auburn, MA – USA 2006
Awards:
Winner of the 2007 Award for Design Excellence from the Boston Society of Architects
URS provided project management, construction management and commissioning services for a new, $39.5 million high school in
Auburn, Massachusetts. The 175,000 square foot facility—including athletic fields—was built to serve 800 students. The building’s
architectural elements include an innovative terracotta rain-screen cladding system with aluminum sun shades to control daylight
into the classrooms, an atrium with continuous clerestory and circular skylights, and a dramatic arc of classrooms which open to the
dining commons. The athletic complex is comprised of three infill turf fields—football/soccer with track, lacrosse/field hockey and
baseball, and a natural-surface softball field. The project is adjacent to a brook, which made attention to conservation issues critical.
URS’ early involvement contributed to the project’s success. The company conducted constructability reviews during the design
phase and contributed to post-bid value engineering following an increase in steel prices. ( URS )
The overall program for the new 800-student high school project was vast and encompassing. The town was interested in openness,
daylighting and technology for both the classrooms and the building as a whole. The central atrium is the heart of the school, linking
the various academic spaces. Continuous clerestory glazing floods this area with daylight, and a copper wall reflects this incoming
daylight. When daylight levels drop, sensors in this space switch on the ceiling lights. The projecting balconies, situated along the
east wall of the atrium, provide an ideal spot for student observation, and teachers can see the entire length of the building from this
vantage point. The new high school is a technologically rich environment. Several classrooms are equipped with interactive
whiteboards. This technology is gradually being worked into the educational program throughout the high school. In addition to
several computer labs, the project included seven laptop carts, which remain charged and can be checked out by any teacher,
essentially making any classroom an interactive computer lab. ( http://schooldesigns.com )
Cuyahoga Community College, Technology Learning Center, West Campus, Parma, OH – USA 2002
54.000 sqf., $ 13.000.000
Note: Area: 35,000 sq. ft. (Technology Learning Center); 30,000 sq. ft. (Library renovation); Cost/Square foot: $180 (new
construction); $46 (renovation)
The metro campus of Cuyahoga Community College (CCC) was designed in 1967, and features a series of instructional buildings on
a downtown/midtown 27.5-acre site atop a parking garage at grade. As an response, students, faculty and visitors access the main
level walkway/plaza system via steps and elevators to reach their intended destination. Daylight was not a key ingredient in the
original campus design on the elevations facing the community, and the views to and from the community beyond the campus are
few and unrevealing of the occupants, as many buildings feature perimeter corridors. Most buildings are two and three stories in
height, with the original Library Building rising to six levels as a central landmark. The challenge was to develop a Technology
Learning Center (TLC) that “will be a national model for technology learning.” Administrators also asked for a design that
respected the campus’ architectural vocabulary, but was less Brutalist in its design. The resulting program analysis identified a need
for a program area of 35,000 square feet for the TLC, as well as expanded administrative and student service space. The essential
program elements of the project include six electronic classrooms (accommodating 26-40) and a TLC with study/workstation areas
for 150, as well as areas for staff support, staff curriculum development, equipment storage and maintenance, and accessible
restroom facilities. The design delivered an addition on the north, east and south sides on the annex that respects the campus
vocabulary, while developing a facility that admits controlled daylighting for instructional benefit and visibility to the community.
Plaza-level occupancies feature six electronic classrooms, two of which feature high-resolution, large-screen videoconferencing
capabilities, as well as state-of-the-art technology learning tools and systems. The other four classrooms have high-resolution
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