project information:
historic preservation research library
A trustee of a major university has donated a site and funds to that institution for the development of a Historic Preservation Research Library complex. The site is now part of the university campus, and is improved by one building of historic significance and, until recently, several nondescript structures. The university is located in a city with a population of 165,000. The campus serves 14,000 students, 85% of whom live on or near the campus. The college of environmental design has recently instituted a graduate degree program in Historic Preservation.
The site is excellent for its proposed use, since it provides a view of the campus commons, bell tower, and several of the original buildings. The site is adjacent to the College of Environmental Design. The campus development is considered an outstanding example of the marriage of historic structures and sympathetic contemporary design. The architecture of the recently constructed building clearly reflects a sensitivity to the university's past architecture while expressing the image of today's and allowing for a continued statement into the future.
Access to the site will be primarily pedestrian, from both on and off campus, from public transportation, and from existing parking areas. Handicapped and staff parking is provided on the surface lot next to the site.
The site is excellent for its proposed use, since it provides a view of the campus commons, bell tower, and several of the original buildings. The site is adjacent to the College of Environmental Design. The campus development is considered an outstanding example of the marriage of historic structures and sympathetic contemporary design. The architecture of the recently constructed building clearly reflects a sensitivity to the university's past architecture while expressing the image of today's and allowing for a continued statement into the future.
Access to the site will be primarily pedestrian, from both on and off campus, from public transportation, and from existing parking areas. Handicapped and staff parking is provided on the surface lot next to the site.
The Historic Preservation Research Library complex will be composed of three major elements:
It is anticipated that the complex will be used primarily by faculty and students of the College of Environmental Design, particularly those involved in the new preservation program. The new building is expected to be a major national depository of preservation research material and will therefore be used by scholars, preservationists, and design professionals from throughout the country.
- The restored Town Hall will be used for lectures and conferences; it will function independently and in conjunction with one or both of the other areas. (It should be noted that the other structures that existed on the site have been razed, and the existing trees have been saved.) This building is a one story building with a heavy rusticated gray stone exterior with minimal fenestration and a steeply pitched slate roof.
- A new preservation research library facility. This building, outlined in the program to follow, will house books, periodicals, plans, prints, and samples of historic building elements as well as providing work space, administrative offices and an exhibit hall.
- An outdoor courtyard space, accessible from the Town Hall and the library space will be used for the display of permanent weather resistive exhibits and should visually and functionally unify the existing and proposed buildings on the site.
It is anticipated that the complex will be used primarily by faculty and students of the College of Environmental Design, particularly those involved in the new preservation program. The new building is expected to be a major national depository of preservation research material and will therefore be used by scholars, preservationists, and design professionals from throughout the country.