Snøhetta designed a library for the Temple University in Philadelphia, a building inserted in a dynamic context that aims to involve students and community. Sited at the intersection of major pathways Polett Walk and Liacouras Walk, the building integrates meeting and social learning spaces as a reinterpretation of the traditional research library. Distributed on four floors, the Charles Library is cladded in vertical sections of split-faced granite recalling the materials of the surrounding campus, while great wooden arches seem to be carved in the volume. The entrance welcomes visitors with a 3-storey domed atrium lobby, where an oculus, connected to the the top floor, lets the light come in. The ground-floor space in organized in different areas, offering a cafe, an event space, a reading room and a 24/7 lobby, along with the Book Bot, dedicated to the storage of books and officially named ASRS (Automated Storage Retrieval System). With a capacity of 2 milion volumes, this machine occupies three levels of the building. An instruction room, a computer lab, a writing center occupy the rest of the centre. The upper floor offers bookshelves and private reading areas surrounded by glazed walls and a green roof, one of the largest in Pennsylvania, that it’s part of the library’s stormwater management system, incliding also pervious paved plazas and paths and landscaped planting beds that infiltrate rainwater.
Snøhetta: wooden arches carved in a new library in Philadelphia
The Charles Library has officially opened at Temple University: a four-storey building including an automated storage retrieval system and a green roof on the top.
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Michael Grimm
© Snøhetta
© Snøhetta
© Snøhetta
© Snøhetta
© Snøhetta
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- Francesca Grillo
- 20 September 2019
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Snøhetta
- 18,580 sqm
- Library
- 2019
- Charles Library
- Snøhetta
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- 18,580 sqm
- 2019
- $135 Million
- LEED Gold Targeted
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Plan level 1
Plan level 2
Plan level 3
Plan level 4
General plan
Building Section – Looking North
Building Section – Looking West
East Elevation
North Elevation
South Elevation
West Elevation
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019
Library for the Temple UNiversity in Philadelphia, US, 2019