The Burton Barr Central Library (Phoenix Central Library) has quickly become a point in the community’s pride while serving as an exciting background to the region’s library and information needs. It is a regular tour stop for visitors as well as architects and scholars from around the world. This architectural masterpiece works with the beautiful desert setting, and is designed to display the natural beauty of the West. The top of the library has a great public reading room, reminiscent of older libraries, with the entire non-fiction collection. The design is a mix of futuristic aspects combined with a respect for historical detail.
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About the Author
Oscar Riera Ojeda is an editor and designer who practices in the United States, South America, and Europe from his office in Boston. he is vice-director of the Spanish-Argentinian magazine Casa Internacional and is the creator of several series of architecture publications for Rockport Publishers, including Contemporary World Architects, Ten Houses, Single Building, and Art and Architecture. Other architectural publications include the new American series for the Whitney Library of Design, as well as several monographs on the work of renowned architects.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A library on a shoestring,
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This review is from: Single Building: Phoenix Central Library: The Process of an Architectural Work (Paperback)
By the 1980's, Phoenix needed a new library.The requirements were simple. It had to be downtown, which has the highest crime rate in the city including a murder rate that is eight times the national average. The chief librarian wanted a big box, "a warehouse for books." Only limited funds were available, and budgets were being trimmed for a library system that circulates more books for less money than any other city in the nation. Phoenix itself is a "branch plant" town where out-of-state businesses build box-like factories for semi-skilled workers who assemble products. The major media are owned by out-of-state companies. The university is famed as one of the top party schools in the nation. The crime rate is among the highest in the nation, social services are among the lowest, the traditional architectural style is the strip mall and the modern version is faux theme park, while urban sprawl spreads faster than ragweed. The library site is between a parking lot and the lush green lawns of a city park. This may sound familiar other hard-pressed city officials. It's a classic case of downtown urban renewal. Dozens of cities have faced similar challenges, and many have renovated old neighborhoods and historic districts. In Phoenix, the decision was to build a state-of-the-art library as one of the crown jewels needed to revive the downtown. The new library is primarily due to the leadership of an outstanding mayor -- Terry Goddard -- who recognized the importance that quality means to civic pride. The result is that Phoenix architect Will Bruder built one of the outstanding new libraries in the nation. This book is primarily photographs and drawings, showing how it came to be and what it is today. It will inspire any public official faced with the need to do a lot more with less, and to do it with beauty. It shows that outstanding civic quality is possible despite sometimes severe budget limitations, and that signature buildings can be built without raiding the public treasury. The east and west sides are clad in copper, one of the four C's on which Arizona was founded -- copper, cotton, citrus and climate. South side windows are shaded by adjustable louvres, for protection against temperatures that can reach 122 degrees. North windows use fabric sails to cut the glare. Twelve inch thick concrete walls shade the main portion of the building, soaking up heat during the day and allowing it to dissipate easily at night instead of soaking into the building. The fifth floor Reading Room was inspired, at least in part, by the Frank Lloyd Wright design of the Johnson Wax Building which features tall columns that flare out at the top like lily pads. Bruder did something different; he designed tall columns that taper toward the top like massive dinner candles, with a circular skylight above each. The columns are laced together with a network of cables on which the roof floats, free of the walls and the columns. The atmosphere is like being out of doors. In Bruder's words, the library embodies his core philosophy "that real architecture exists when both pragmatism and poetry are served with equal passion." This book expresses it well. It shows what a community can accomplish when civic officials are willing "to think outside the box." Civic officials contemplating a major project, whether they have ample budgets or not, will find this book is an inspiration to soar above mediocrity.
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