Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Engineering and Science Library, feasibility study, west
elevation
detail of rendering (1996)
Engineering and Science Library [not built]
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
(Pittsburgh)
1996-
The new Engineering and Science Library is to be be part of the sequence of
new buildings that scales the slope of Junction Hollow at the western edge
of the campus. It holds the linchpin positioned between the Physical
Plant Building and Roberts Hall, previously
envisioned for the Roberts Hall "headhouse." Thus far, the architects have
prepared a feasibility study as part of a grant application that seeks
funding for the project. The study concludes that it is feasible to build
a small library distributed over five stories on this difficult site. Site
conditions--including the severity of the slope, buried utility lines,
and the need for above-ground connections to Wean and Roberts Halls--drive
the design.
The building is massed as a cube, with a circulation tower articulated
as a separate slab-like volume. The lower stories of the principal facades
are concrete, with accentuated vertical ribs, and act as a monolithic plinth
for the campus above. The highest story rides lightly on top. The division
between these elements continues a datum line established at Scaife and
Roberts Halls. The cube is eroded, however, on its inner edge where it
meets the hillside. Here, light shafts introduce natural light deep into
the interior and bridges and stairs come and go. The building is entered
from the top, primarily from bridges that connect into the circulation
tower. The bridge from the fourth floor of Wean Hall will conform to the
ramp requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Its entry point
into the site is a jumping-off point for the entire design.
August 13, 1997 -- http://www.library.cmu.edu/Research/ArchArch/ACampusRenewed/ESLib.html
Martin Aurand, Architecture Librarian and Archivist,
ma1f@andrew.cmu.edu
Index of Exhibits
A Campus Renewed