Winning Entry in studio-wide competition. Reconsidering Syracuse University’s Bird Library.
A present situation in which spatial communication and social connection between the university’s northern quad and walnut park has been abruptly disrupted by a massive, de-contextual concrete block; Bird Library. The primary problem rests in the positioning of the library within this urban-park condition. This placement is responsible for the breakdown of circulation and conceptual assertion of the university’s whole.
The resolution of these disruptions of space and circulation can be found with a simple dialectic of division and separation; one that idolizes public transitional, translational, and communal space while supporting the critical library phase.
By sliding the library to the east portion of the site, the open communal space is born. Although a transitional space between quad and park, the spaces found within it support a constant pedestrian traffic; one that offers programs ranging from art gallery, theater, and café. The library facility is centered around a ‘core of knowledge’ which houses the library’s media; as the principal programmatic element, it is responsible for supporting the rest of the building.
As one moves through the library, they must ascend up and around the core tower, raising up and surrounding knowledge.
