Snøhetta’s design for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library was recently selected as the winning entry in a competition to design the facility. The design is informed by the President’s personal reflections on the landscape, his commitment to environmental stewardship, and the periods of quiet introspection and civic engagement that marked his life.
The facility is conceived as a journey through a preserved landscape of diverse habitats, punctuated with small pavilions providing spaces for reflection and activity. Set at the northeast edge of a butte, the landscape is preserved for conservation research while offering a setting for educational walks, leisure, and recreation. Paths will connect to the nearby Maah Daah Trail and several small pavilions. These pavilions will range from small nooks to expansive vistas.
An accessible rooftop provides views of the National Park, connecting visitors to Roosevelt’s legacy. At night, the roof will provide an ideal location for stargazing. A covered porch that overlooks the nearby valleys can be used for gatherings throughout the year. Additionally, large windows will highlight views to historically significant landscapes and blur the line between interior and exterior.
The library’s construction will use locally sourced and renewable materials while sophisticated energy systems will set a new standard for sustainable design in the region. The design also mitigates the impact of wind and other climatic factors so the library will be accessible in all seasons.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Modest recession for education construction
Construction spending for education expanded modestly but steadily through March, while at the same time growth for other institutional construction had stalled earlier in 2009. Education spending is now at or near the peak for this building cycle. The value of education starts is off 9% year-to-date compared to 2008.
| Aug 11, 2010
Concrete Solutions
About five or six years ago, officials at the University of California at Berkeley came to the conclusion that they needed to build a proper home for the university's collection of 900,000 rare Chinese, Japanese, and Korean books and materials. East Asian studies is an important curriculum at Berkeley, with more than 70 scholars teaching some 200 courses devoted to the topic, and Berkeley's pro...
Cultural Facilities | Aug 11, 2010
12 major trends in library design
Many academic planners assumed that the coming of the Internet would lead to the decline of the library as we know it. To the contrary, many academic libraries have experienced significantly increased patron use in recent years.
| Aug 11, 2010
Giants 300 University Report
University construction spending is 13% higher than a year ago—mostly for residence halls and infrastructure on public campuses—and is expected to slip less than 5% over the next two years. However, the value of starts dropped about 10% in recent months and will not return to the 2007–08 peak for about two years.
| Aug 11, 2010
Let There Be Daylight
The new public library in Champaign, Ill., is drawing 2,100 patrons a day, up from 1,600 in 2007. The 122,600-sf facility, which opened in January 2008, certainly benefits from amenities that the old 40,000-sf library didn't have—electronic check-in and check-out, new computers, an onsite coffeehouse.
| Aug 11, 2010
Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of Design
When tasked with transforming an early 1920s Italian Renaissance bank building into a fully functional library for the Rhode Island School of Design, the Building Team for RISD's Fleet Library found itself at odds with the project's two main goals. On the one hand, the team would have to carefully restore and preserve the historic charm and ornate architectural details of the landmark space, d...
