The Snøhetta Bureau traces its history back to winning a major international competition for the project of the new Library of Alexandria. Therefore, it is not surprising that architects are very interested in this type of building, and they, given the demand of today, are trying to find a new form and content for an institution that seems to be losing its meaning in the digital age.
The problem of libraries today has two sides, according to their main types: public and scientific. Snøhetta designs and
city institutions, but its projects for universities are more interesting: university libraries cannot be turned into multifunctional complex with interest clubs, foreign language courses and similar content. Students continue (are they forced?) To read paper books and complete study assignments based on them. However, the situation is changing here: in the previous library of Temple University, named after Samuel Paley, which opened in the 1960s, these days students are sorely lacking chairs and other seating, as well as opportunities to work together, as their lifestyles have changed - and study.
The new library, named after Steve Charles, has more than twice as many such places and spaces, but there are also more volumes stored in the building. But the reason is not even a large area (more than 20,000 m2), but the use of an automatic system for storing and issuing books. In the US, it is still rarely used in "ordinary" libraries, but this is not the first such experience of Snøhetta: in 2013 they built such a BookBot into their
North Carolina State University Library. Thanks to this move, Temple University was able to accommodate 1.5 million books in the building with the ability to bring this number to 2 million, and some of the volumes that were in the remote storage have now moved to the library. The 17.4 m high automatic system allows books to be stacked very tightly and quickly moved around the building. 200,000 volumes are freely available in the reading room on the fourth floor.
The façades of the building are clad in black granite from Minnesota: its narrow slabs with a rough surface contrast with the cedar-clad arches of the entrances. The library is located in the very center of the campus, at a busy intersection and on the highway connecting the university with downtown Philadelphia. The size and materials of the adjacent buildings became the determining factor in choosing the stone and dimensions of the Snøhetta building.
The role of the lobby is played by a spacious atrium with a dome and an oculos, where there are computer-equipped workplaces for local residents (you can get inside simply by showing any ID) and a 24/7 open area. A wide staircase leads higher: in the building, in addition to two reading rooms around open storage shelves on the fourth, upper tier, there are places for individual, joint and group studies (about 40 such rooms can be booked), a center for "tutoring" assistance to students, a workshop with digital machines and "immersive" technologies, university publishing house.
Students can move around the building completely freely: in addition to the usual power outlets, the level of mobility is increased by laptops that can be rented on any floor (something like a machine is provided for this).
The library roof is 70% green: with a planting area of 4,400 m2, this is one of the largest green roofs in the state of Pennsylvania. The windows of the reading rooms overlook it, and a thoughtful selection of 15 plant species provides it with an attractive view all year round (the natural environment is important for the psycho-emotional state of readers).
However, a key role for green roofing, as well as lawns and permeable paving of small areas around a building, is in managing rainwater. Philadelphia's dilapidated storm sewer already can't handle the load during storms, so it was important that the library didn't add work to it. The described components of the project (landscape design, as well as interior design, was also done by Snøhetta), together with two underground reservoirs with a total volume of almost 2000 m3, will completely cope with rainwater on the library site (1.2 hectares), and another 0.4 hectares of the neighboring one. impenetrable paved area. The project claims to be LEED Gold.
The budget of the project was 135 million dollars, the library is expected to have 5 million visitors a year (about 40,000 students study at the university).
