FRACTURE OF REVIVAL - Civic Campus Of Brick Library

University of Virginia, University of Virginia School of Architecture

Project idea

A brick library that built on the existing Richmond Public Library to activate the nearby community to be a civic campus.

Project description

The history of Richmond can be found with some clues in the Richmond public library, in the 1932 one as well as the 1970 extension, both visible and invisible. Then what does it mean to have a new library for a city which has its wound also its healing?

It’s the growth after the broken, which is when the plants emerge from the physical fractures of the building. The key words of the new library here are the book, people, light, history and green. And the central thesis is how to make the new library brighter and inviting for people to come in.

From the shape study of the building, as well as the surrounding site context, the monumentality of the building doesn’t have to come from the volume of the building, but the thickness of the space, which is how close people can feel and use the space. So the fracture of the building starts from the 1932 Dooley lobby and extends to the center of the existing building, breaking them into 4 different pieces for more light as well as providing easier access for people. The breaking of the Dooley lobby, and the tree growing at the center of the courtyard, is a metaphor of the wound and healing – the trace of history is transformed into the place that provides comfort and leisure.

The fundamental element of the library is books. To magnify this character, the red brick perimeter walls and the glulam structure are building structure, as well as structures of the bookshelf inside and outside, also the walls of the rooms are bookshelves, and the built-in bookshelves on the façade are the showcases of books. The seating at the center square and the pergola outside are also made of bookshelves and provide space for people to read and rest.

Thus the library is not limited to the building but flowing all around the site, so you can feel that you are encompassed by books when you get close to the community here and enter the site, that is how the library can be a civic campus.

Technical information

4 floor building with concrete building base for parking lot and upper floors; mass timber structure and glulam for upper floors with glass and brick facade and roof.