Renovated libraries drawing crowds

OPEN BOOK: The Claire T. Carney Library at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth went through a $48 million renovation in 2012. The building has seen a boost in a use since then. / COURTESY UMASS DARTMOUTH/JENNIFER WHITE
OPEN BOOK: The Claire T. Carney Library at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth went through a $48 million renovation in 2012. The building has seen a boost in a use since then. / COURTESY UMASS DARTMOUTH/JENNIFER WHITE

Conor Szarek, a senior at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, has a favorite nook on the fifth floor of the renovated Claire T. Carney Library, but the library is so popular these days, he can’t always get the spot he wants.
“I try to get a good view of one of the cantilevered portions of the building,” Szarek said. “You get a large, open expanse of window which is awesome, and depending on where you sit, it’s always a different angle.”
The concrete building erected in North Dartmouth in 1973 and designed by architect Paul Rudolph originally had cantilevered “boxes” that looked out over the campus that over time were enclosed for offices, said Kelly Haigh, a licensed architect with DesignLAB of Boston. The company won multiple awards earlier this year for a 2012 redesign of 150,000 square feet of the “Brutalist” styled structure.
A 25,000-square-foot addition also was built, with a basement now dedicated to storage of lesser-used books and journals that can be retrieved as needed by staff at the circulation desk, said Catherine A. Fortier-Barnes, assistant dean for library services. The entire project cost $48 million, the university said.
The enclosures “cut off the light and view and made the interiors very dark,” Haigh said. “We opened those back up, using glass partitions so we could maintain that view and visual connection.”
Getting a visual break from homework is just one of many advantages to the architectural transformation, said Szarek and Fortier-Barnes. Electrical outlets are everywhere – unobtrusively, in the floors, for instance – so today’s wired student can plug in and charge smartphones, tablets and laptops, they said.
“There’s a lot more collaboration [today] and a lot more homework online and you get instant feedback [from professors],” Szarek said. “We take quizzes on smartphones or tablets. I think [the architects] did a great job redesigning it. They definitely got the idea of how people should inhabit the space. They humanized Rudolph in a great way.”
Today’s university libraries are no longer quiet repositories for books and periodicals. For UMass Dartmouth, adapting architecturally has meant making the existing concrete building structurally open, electronically accessible, with flexible interior rooms and furniture, as well as providing space to accommodate social activity and rooms for computerized presentations. On a much smaller scale, the 10,000-square-foot “Learning Commons” area of the 237,000-square-foot Robert L. Carothers Library at the University of Rhode Island in the Kingston section of South Kingstown got a $1 million makeover in 2012. Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels Architects of Providence achieved architectural results that also reflect openness, electronic accessibility and flexible study space, according to architectural Associate Principal Sean Redfern and David Maslyn, dean of the libraries for the URI Bay Campus.
Ten thousand square feet of library space on the first floor was “repurposed to create this whole new concept in the way students would study and it’s an open environment, except for the use of six group study rooms,” Maslyn said.
“Structurally, we stripped back the room and made it very bare bones, and used the furniture to create comfortable spaces for the students to learn,” said Redfern. “We paid attention to the acoustics. In the ceiling, we put acoustic tiles to absorb sound.”
And while the URI library’s concrete ceiling is painted white to allow light to reflect more into the space, DesignLAB reintroduced Rudolph’s red and purple color scheme at UMass Dartmouth, adding orange – a palette that appeals to Szarek and his classmates, said Szarek and Ben Youtz, a DesignLAB licensed architect.
“One of the things they brought to the project which I didn’t expect were the vibrant colors,” added Fortier-Barnes. “If it were up to me, I would not have been as bold in the color choices. [But] they convinced me and they were absolutely right. The bold oranges, purples and reds in contrast with the concrete works. And the reds and purples were original colors to the building, Paul Rudolph colors.”
Another change at UMass Dartmouth involved the furniture and study carrels, which had been bolted to the concrete floors. They are now mobile and can be rearranged to meet students’ needs, she said.
“One of the things we really needed to get from this renovation was flexibility,” said Fortier-Barnes.
At UMass Dartmouth’s Carney Library, there is a café, too, and food and drink are allowed in the entire building, keeping students there longer, Fortier-Barnes said. In contrast, URI’s Learning Commons features a café-styled area that includes tables, booths and counters, which can be used for bringing in beverages from the library proper’s Daily Grind café, Maslyn said.
With all of these changes, both libraries’ popularity has soared. Usage has doubled at URI and nearly tripled at UMass Dartmouth, said Maslyn and Fortier-Barnes. In fact, Szarek, a library assistant, is one of 20 students who does daily head counts. He attested to days when there are more than 500 students in the library – so many the head counters stop counting, he said.
“It’s so rewarding to have spent a lot of time planning and executing this renovation and to see the hundreds of people spending a lot of time in the building,” said Fortier-Barnes.
In February, DesignLAB received formal notice of three 2013 awards for its work. The Boston Society of Architects awarded DesignLAB the Citation for Transformative Addition to an Existing Building. In the Honor Awards for Design Excellence, DesignLAB architects and Austin Architects received the Hobson award, named for Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson – the highest level of award given to honor-award winners in each category.
The BSA jury said, in part, “An informed, revisionist attitude guides the design. Transparency is attained by stripping back large concrete block forms, revealing an open structural frame reminiscent of [Rudolph’s] early work. Glass-encased metal fins respond to the rhythm of the existing building.”
DesignLAB architects also won an award in the education category at the 34th Annual Interior Awards hosted by Contract Magazine.
While the Providence architects did not capture any awards for their renovation work at URI, the increased volume of students speaks for itself, said Maslyn.
The entire four-story Carothers Library, including the renovated area, averages 15,000 users a week, he said.
“Students study together now and want to have tables and chairs that move and creature comforts, as well as intellectual comforts, coffee, something to nibble on and social space to talk and mix together,” he said. “It’s a nice time to be a librarian. I don’t have to go around shushing anybody.” •

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