A library that seems taken from the future and that keeps the best of the past.
The temple university in philadelphia an image wash has been done. Studying will never be the same thanks to ** Snøhetta , the team that has designed the new Charles Library**. Located in the heart of the main Temple campus, this new space will have you looking up more than once to delight in the innovation personified. The study aims to reinvent what was the traditional library, paley , from the sixties.
Before entering, the environment is already proclaimed as a student area, with large green areas in which classes are held outdoors and often numerous groups of friends are seen together (that's what you're thinking…just like in the movies!) . When you are about to pass, you come across some arched doorways that seem to say: "Come...".
In a student and youth environment, the Charles Library seems to stand out as the chosen one on campus.
Contrary to what many may think, the fact of being an innovative building does not make it break with the aesthetics of its surroundings. How? The key is in the minimalism of the construction . If there are no excesses, it does not clash. The exterior walls are made of a greyish, light and dark granite , and the arcs of the entrances are of stone carved wood . All this appears crowned by imposing windows that run throughout the space and give a feeling of immense spaciousness. Sober, without artifice.
Is arcuate dynamic also becomes the protagonist inside , especially in the main room, where they end up forming a three peaked dome but asymmetric. Originality is one of the strong points in this library. As you turn your head up, you'll see an opening through which light travels from the upper floor to the hall.
When you reach the fourth floor, a piece of nature seems to be waiting for you. Through the glass, you can see a meadow-like garden , dotted with little flowers, and forming one of the most enriching retreats in the library. Above this room and **covering more than 70% of the building, we are covered by a green roof considered one of the largest in Pennsylvania**.
All the rooms in this library give a feeling of spaciousness and immensity.
RETURN TO THE FUTURE
Lots of design, but what about books? Perhaps the most innovative aspect comes now. BookBot is the new member and best friend of the students who attend the space. Is about an automated storage and retrieval system for books which allows access to the entire library collection. Have a height of more than 17 meters and capacity for two million copies , of which it currently occupies a million and a half. If the book you are looking for is not there, it is unlikely to be anywhere else.
Those lovers of the analog and traditional, do not grumble yet. On the fourth floor, there a room that recovers the spirit of the libraries of always . Those that give you the pleasure of being able to wander between books, look at them and touch them. And they are not few this part of the collection houses 200,000 volumes.
This book storage system has made it possible to create more spaces dedicated to study and more capacity for copies.
All the space saved in storage, they have used it in study and learning spaces . Thus, between the second and third floors is the Student Success Center , in which tutorials and support classes are given, the Loretta C. Duckworth Study Academies , dedicated to digital manufacturing and new technologies and the temple university press department.
As if that were not enough, on each floor, there are laptops, with their corresponding cargo spaces, available to everyone . Surely, you would never have imagined taking out a computer like a chocolate bar from a vending machine. With almost thirty years behind her, ** Snøhetta has done it again. Anything is possible at the Charles Library.**
Shall we go back to study?