PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY LIBRARY

Undergraduate Degree Course in Architecture Construction Conservation - 3rd year (2017-2018)

Course: History of Architecture

Professor: Marco Pogacnik

Work Group: Chiara Meneghello

The Phillips Exeter Academy Library is located in New Hampshire (USA) and was designed by Louis Kahn. 

Kahn structured the library in three concentric square rings. The outer ring, which is built of load-bearing brick, includes all four exterior walls and the library carrel desks immediately inside them. The middle ring, which is built of reinforced concrete, holds the heavy book stacks. The inner ring is a dramatic atrium with enormous circular openings in its walls that reveal several floors of book stacks, and at the top of the atrium, two massive concrete cross beams diffuse the light entering from the clerestory windows. The corners of the building are chamfered (cut off), allowing the viewers to see the outer parts of the building's structure. At the top of the exterior walls is a row of openings similar to the windows below except that these openings are above the roof and have no glass. Another arcade circles the building on the ground floor. Kahn disliked the idea of a building that was dominated by its entrance, so he concealed the main entrance to the library behind this arcade. The architect believed that the library was a sacred space, and did not want to design a place that divided the books from the reader. He felt that reading spaces should be near the books and also to natural light, instead of being towards the centre. So he designed the carrel areas that are associated with two levels of book stacks, with the upper level structured as a mezzanine that overlooks the carrels, that are near the windows.