Ithaca, New York, USA
European Prize for Architecture laureate Wolfgang Tschapeller has renovated a library at Cornell University and added suspended shelving for over 100,000 books at Cornell University’s new Mui Ho Fine Arts Library.
The new addition located in Cornell University’s Rand Hall connects to Milstein Hall – the university’s school of architecture designed by OMA .
Completed in 1911, the library houses the College of Architecture, Art and Planning’s collection of fine art and design materials.
Tschapeller removed a floor from the building to create room for a massive shelving structure that now stands within building’s open-plan reading room.
The floors of the lifted structure are made from grated steel, with walkways connecting the aisles of books and also connecting the library to seminar rooms and offices. The shelving units do not have walls to create “transparency” within the structure.
“The entire volume of more than 125,000 books is constructed as one floating volume hanging from the roof beams, not to ground and not to floor, but four feet 10 inches above the floor, leaving free space, avoid Tschapeller said.
“Free of walls, the transparency across and between levels provides visitors multiple overlapping views across interior spaces and outward to the natural surroundings.”
“With semi-transparent floors made of steel grating and an absence of walls within the stacks, full sight lines are created from one end of the atrium to the other,” added David Ziskind, chief architect at consultancy STV , which also worked on the project.
“These new, expansive views of the building’s interior become integrated into the facade, creating a transparency that serves as a beacon and invitation on campus.”
“The stacks accommodate approximately 100,000 volumes in a configuration forming an inventive inverted ziggurat of books,” explained Tscahpeller.
Bookshelves and walkways occupy 17 horizontal platforms that extend three stories high. Each array is supported by a horizontal beam that connects it to the wall, rectangular poles that attach to the ceiling and series of metal cords and columns support and lift the structure approximately 1.47 metres off the ground.
The renovation also involved adding wood, metal and digital fabrication shops, a makerspace, research lab and small-tool repository to the building’s ground floor.
“Thus, we have two factories in one building,” said Tschapeller. “One is the factory for the material, and one is the factory for thought and concepts — both wrapped by Rand Hall to one interacting volume.”
On the exterior, a rooftop deck was installed to the top of the former industrial building to provide space for hosting temporary experimental structures created by students and faculty. A mirrored cornice was also installed along the perimeter of the building, below the roofline. Meejin Yoon, dean of Cornell’s College of Art, Architecture, and Planning (AAP), said this is also what she loves about the project. “The production of new knowledge, ranging from scholarship to research and fabrication and making, tying those activities together as all forms of new knowledge is exciting.”
Architects: Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmbH
Architects of Record: STV Incorporated
Client: Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning
Photographers: Lukas Schaller