Caldwell, Idaho, USA
The College of Idaho tasked Richärd Kennedy Architects’ design team and McKibben + Cooper Architects to “transform the library from a cloistered space for quiet learning into a dynamic complex for intellectual exchange—an intellectual commons that draws together the realms of liberal learning.”
The College’s vision for their library was “a light, airy and inviting space, yet one that gives the students the sense of being surrounded by something bigger than themselves.”
The design has been awarded a 2021 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The Cruzen-Murray Library is located on the College of Idaho campus at the terminus of a prominent roadway into the city of Caldwell, Idaho.
The new library replaces the former Terteling Library, which has been programmed for adaptive reuse.
The glazed facade is veiled by a spiraling array of 195 vertical perforated corten steel shade fins, suspended in tension beneath a deep overhanging cedar ceiling/soffit.
Each perimeter fin is individually oriented in response to rigorous solar analysis and the results of iterative energy modeling.
Each fin orientation invites direct natural light into the library at the appropriate times of the year and throughout each day.
Early morning light pre-heats the library in the cold winter months, while the vertical fins and deep overhang shade the library during the hot summer.
A geothermal ground source heat pump system greatly reduces life-cycle operating costs and extends expected mechanical system life.
Conditioned air is distributed throughout the library via a pressurized access floor plenum which also distributes power and data and provides flexibility for changes in future technologies and pedagogy.
A perimeter radiant heat system provides warm air directly adjacent to the exterior glazing and initiates a natural convective cycle within the interior space. Warm air rises against the adjacent glazing and returns to the building air-handling unit via the ceiling and roof plenums and vertical chases.
These integrated system solutions are expected to reduce the library’s annual energy consumption by 61% compared to current ASHRAE requirements.
The Cruzen-Murray Library inverts the 20th-century library diagram of the great central reading room surrounded by book stacks, offices, and meeting spaces. Instead, teaching classrooms and administrative offices are placed in a central “core,” which also serves as a hub for vertical circulation.
The main entrance at the ground level is located on the west side of the building serving as a welcoming invitation to the campus.
A grand sculptural stair leads visitors to the large reading room placed on the second floor overlooking the two-story civic gallery.
Public, social spaces face the existing campus and quadrangle to the west, with quiet study spaces shielded by the book stacks, which are arrayed east of the core on the ground and second levels.
A prominent collection of Imari porcelain, donated by the library’s benefactors, is displayed adjacent to the central stair at the heart of the building.
The library’s interior finishes reflect a simple material palette influenced by the local Idaho landscape.
Furniture selections encourage moments for casual dialogue and support technologies for collaborative meeting spaces.
Project: Cruzen-Murray Library
Architects: Richärd Kennedy Architects
Associate Architect: McKibben + Cooper Architects
Client: The College of Idaho
General Contractor: Kreizenbeck Constructors
Landscape Architects: Jensen Belts Associates
Photographers: Gabe Border Photography
