Claire T. Carney Library

What were the circumstances of receiving the commission for this project?

 

The complex Claire T. Carney Library (CTCL) renovation and addition project began as two distinct initiatives with separate funding sources, managing authorities, and architects.  While the University of Massachusetts Building Authority (UMBA) oversaw an expansion below the existing lecture hall link adjacent to the library, the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) undertook mechanical upgrades and the interior reconfiguration of the main six-story library.  designLAB architects responded to a Request for Proposals issued by UMBA in 2008. The University’s planning team recognized the opportunities in merging both projects; Taxpayers’ funds could be used more efficiently and effectively, while also ensuring consistent design throughout the renovated library and its addition.  The two project architects collaborated enthusiastically, complementing one another’s skill sets to orchestrate a fully integrated planning effort.  Along with library, facilities, administration staff and donor groups, the architects facilitated discussions with over ten departments, students, and other constituents to reprogram the combined vision.

How does the building compare to other projects in your office, be it the same or other building types?

 

Although this was probably one of the largest and most complex projects in the office to date, it still shares much with our more modest work.  For designLAB, no matter the scale, our process begins with researching place, history, and context to inform design. Rudolph’s utopian experiment was the guide for our new interventions, although we did not always replicate or strictly preserve his details.  In this way, many of our projects bring new life to underutilized buildings in ways that are informed by (but not bound to) previous architectural styles, all the way from Neo-Classicism to Brutalism. designLAB’s work weaves together the old with the new.

At a unique campus like UMD, the planning team must balance the two opposing sides of the mid-century experiment: it created a strong campus identity but was fraught with deterioration or flaws identified over time.  Any measurable successes of the completed project are a direct result of the guiding principal that corrections or modifications to the original architecture are equally important to extending the building’s relevance and legacy as preservation or restoration.  With the architects, the project team embraced an informed, revisionist attitude towards Rudolph’s original library design, resulting in significant transformations both programmatically and architecturally.   Through extensive research, the design team identified the original intention and spirit of the library translating that vision into a building that better serves 21st century library needs.

How would you describe the architecture of Massachusetts and how does the building relate to it? 

 

In Massachusetts, particularly Boston where our firm is based, contemporary practice is informed through several contexts: the Modern Movement, Preservation, and Research/Innovation.  It is the birthplace of Modernism in America and home to two of the most influential schools of architecture in the country: Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Under Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer’s leadership, an entire generation of architects were educated, inventing new models for a rapidly changing post-war America.  Among them are Rudolph, Johnson, I.M. Pei, Barnes, Johansen, and Frazen. The landmark competition for Boston City Hall chronicles the epic and the campus of UMass Dartmouth embodies the spirit of optimism and arrogance in post-war America.

The Boston community was also a leader in the American Preservation Movement. In parallel to the experiments of the Modern Movement (and sometimes in conflict with it) was the emergence of a national reverence and respect for the value of our built legacy as a colonial agrarian economy.  The success of Quincy Market is most notable. Boston is also a center of research and innovation in science, medical, educational, and financial worlds, which has a major influence on design practice.  

 

Contemporary practice in Boston and Massachusetts is fueled by research, experimentation, but also informed by the historical legacies of both the Modern and Preservation Movements.  The best work from the area interprets existing sites and buildings in a new way, grounded in a deep understanding of the place or artifact. Yet it is reinvented for new programs and needs, creating an exciting dialog between past and future.  The renovation and addition to the Claire T. Carney Library at UMass Dartmouth is at the center of this dialog.

Campus Hub: The expansion houses a new, inviting browsing area and cafe. With transparency and openness it provides a balance to the solid, heavy structure looming overhead.  Previously, the underside of the Link felt damp and desolate.  Now fit with expanses of glass, new lighting, bright carpet, and comfortable furnishings, it is a light-filled living room for casual browsers, student collaboration, and circulation desk patrons. Removal of original solid forms transformed the elevated Link passage into an inviting campus landmark with open, airy overlooks for study and cross-campus vistas.  The eastern plaza is the first programmed outdoor space provided in the Master Plan.  The geometric stepped terraces give a variety of café seating styles and connect with popular paths including the original ‘nautilus’.   Previously undetectable, the new grand, glass-enclosed entrances are prominent on campus, creating a link between the perimeter road and the heart of campus.

  

In the now fully accessible renovated library, updated reading rooms, teaching labs, service desks, and study areas are more efficiently laid out for easier navigation and ideal use.  Where the original study carols only allowed individual work, new program spaces and technology support collaborative learning.  The vivid color palette, coordinated furnishings, and new lighting brighten the once dim, sprawling library. Planners reoriented the salvaged bookshelves to allow daylight further into the deep floor plates. Clad with resin panels, they also carry cheerful color through the stacks. 

 

The most important accomplishment of the project is that the current generation of University students embraces an artifact from 40 years ago, in which they have no direct connection or nostalgia. Since it’s reopening, a dramatic increase in building usage has been observed. The ‘new’ library is now the place to be on campus; it clearly has a ‘Mad Men’ appeal! With a transformed image and new resources unique to the University, it is equipped to serve students with the highest expectations.  The library is again the heart of the campus: architecturally, intellectually, and academically.

Can you describe your design process for the building?

 

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMD) campus is one of the most significant experiments in postwar concrete Brutalist Architecture in the United States.  The entire campus was conceived by Paul Rudolph and constructed over 10 years.  Each building is a dramatic exploration of the style and when combined they form a complete utopian vision of optimism and exuberance.  The campus was designed as an oasis for commuter students. A perimeter ring road surrounds the campus of complex interconnected cavernous and sculptural concrete forms that are filled with vibrant Op-Art interiors.  While the Claire T. Carney Library (CTCL) still sits as the focal point of the campus, its status as center of academic discourse has declined over the past several decades.  Since the buildings inception, the University’s educational and technological paradigms had evolved far beyond the library’s ability to support them.  With an un-insulated building envelope and aging infrastructure and equipment, the building’s energy performance was a considerable burden.  Additionally, many spaces were not universally accessible to the public.  Perhaps the most drastic change was the loss of Rudolph’s original vision of vibrant interiors filled with boldly colored textiles and furnishings that had slowly been stripped away over time.  Beginning in 2011, the outdated library was renovated and expanded ultimately transforming it from a daunting liability into a renewed amenity for the campus community.

How does the building relate to contemporary architectural trends, be it sustainability, technology, etc.?

 

Contemporary architecture, and more specifically contemporary libraries, must adapt to changing program needs, accommodate the use of technology, and foster socialization in a personally isolating world. On campuses, libraries are now the center for sharing diverse kinds of Information and exportation of innovative learning approaches.

 

Sustainability: The CTCL is more than a library.  Open twenty-four hours a day, it is a hub for University activity, academic and otherwise.  While the South Reading Room is reserved for traditional quiet study, the Grand Reading Room doubles as a formal presentation venue for lectures, guest speakers, or community events.  In complement, the flexible Browsing Area and adjacent Café in the addition were designed for easy conversion from casual living room into formal dining room for receptions or other larger gatherings.  By maximizing possible uses of each reconceived library space, the CTCL will remain relevant, as University needs continually evolve.  

 

Technology: Since completion in the early 1970’s, the library had received no major infrastructural improvements and required updated technology to support advancing curriculum.   The new Scholarly Commons is filled with computers arranged for browsing, while the Learning Commons is furnished with ‘honeycomb’ shaped workstations for group collaboration.  The Digital Media Center houses specialized software and equipment for digital imaging, graphic design and illustration, animation, and digital video, encoding, and serving.  Training and instruction takes place in two new Computer Labs.   ‘Mediascapes’ on each floor are incorporated into intimate nooks with large screens and video inputs for viewing group projects.   A new integrated wireless system serves the whole complex.  Power outlets were installed in all informal alcoves to support casual learning and mobile technologies.  These improvements enable new types of learning never before imagined in the library.