About 1.5 million people visited the Boston Public Library between July 2016 and March 2017. That’s a 22% increase over what the library drew from July 2015 through March 2016.
That bump was attributable, in large measure, to the library’s $78 million renovation, the results of which debuted in July 2016. This three-year-long project, lead by William Rawn Associates | Architects and Consigli Construction, opened up and brightened what, by consensus, had been an uninviting space for patrons, disconnected from its Copley Square neighborhood.
The renovation—whose numerous accolades include, most recently, the 2017 Preservation Massachusetts, Paul and Niki Tsongas Award—achieved that goal in several ways.
Most notably, it created a 35-ft-wide, 210-ft-long connection between Johnson Building—a building designed by architect Phillip Johnson and opened in 1972—and the McKim Building, designed by Charles McKim and opened in 1892. Johnson was on record saying that he was never satisfied with the way the entrance and lobby to his building turned out. Neither were visitors who often found themselves wandering through labyrinthine corridors to get from one part of the library to the other.
“People were always getting lost,” said Cliff Gayley, a Partner with William Rawn Associates, who with Sindu Meier, a Senior Associate of the firm; and Phil Brault, Senior Project Manager with Consigli, recently spoke with BD+C about their work on transforming the library.
The second-floor renovation of Boston's Central Library doubled the size of the Children's library, and created quiet reading spaces around its periphery. The library's atrium, Deferrari Hall, provides ample natural sunlight. Image: Robert Benson Photography.
The master plan for this landmark library’s overhaul was drawn up in 2012, soon after which “it became clear very quickly that the building had been designed for a different time,” recalled Meier.
To create a more logistically elegant pathway between the two buildings, the Building Team needed to support the McKim Building’s load-bearing but fragile masonry wall with structural framing and shoring that could withstand a load of over 1 million pounds.
The team devised a steel framing system, preloaded with hydraulic jacks, which allowed for the removal of two concrete columns below the second floor that each handled a load of over 300,000 pounds.
The renovation also removed ugly tinted windows that offered virtually no outside view, as well as 97 granite plinths that formed a barrier around the Johnson building. In their place is a more amenable façade of two-story-high windows that, at ground level, is flush with the sidewalk, making the building appear more approachable from the street.
A movable tunnel system from Boylston Street allowed the library to stay open during construction. The Building Team hauled in building materials through second-floor windows during the renovation, which was conducted in two phases
The first, which was completed in February 2015, spruced up the second floor by doubling the size of the Children’s library, introducing a maker space for teenagers, and creating reading and classroom areas around the perimeter.
Phase two, completed in the summer of 2016, revitalized the lower floor’s Kirsten Business Library and Innovation Center. The entrance to the newly created two-story Boylston Hall offers a Welcome Center and circulation desk (moved back about 75 feet from the door, said Gayley), with informational touch screens that, among other things, allow visitors to peruse the library’s digital catalog.
The newly created Boylston Hall leads visitors to a glass-enclosed area with a cafe and a satellite studio for WGBH. It was important to library officials that the renovation include a retail component. Image: Robert Benson Photography
A Welcome Center at the library's entrance offers a digital experience to visitors. Image: Robert Benson Photography
That Boylston Street entrance, encompassed by glass, leads visitors to the library’s Newsfeed Café, managed by Catered Affair; as well as a “new and novel” section for fiction and nonfiction, and a satellite television studio for WGBH, Boston’s public station. “Libraries are struggling to remain relevant, and this project exhibits forward thinking and entrepreneurship,” observed Brault. A fetching curved wood-slatted ceiling accents this area.
A total of 156,000 sf were added or improved by this renovation, which included making activities on each floor visible and transparent via Deferrari Hall, the Central Library’s striking atrium, which bathes its more-open and colorful spaces in natural light from the library’s roof.
Related Stories
Performing Arts Centers | Oct 21, 2024
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center breaks ground on $336 million redevelopment of its 12-acre campus
In Newark, N.J., the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) has broken grown on the three-year, $336 million redevelopment of its 12-acre campus. The project will provide downtown Newark 350 mixed-income residential units, along with shops, restaurants, outdoor gathering spaces, and an education and community center with professional rehearsal spaces.
Performing Arts Centers | Oct 10, 2024
Studio Gang's performing arts center for Hudson Valley Shakespeare breaks ground
A new permanent home for Hudson Valley Shakespeare, a professional non-profit theater company, recently broke ground in Garrison, N.Y. The Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center includes a 14,850 sf performance venue that will serve as a permanent home for the theater company known for its sweeping open-air productions of classics and new works.
Museums | Oct 1, 2024
UT Dallas opens Morphosis-designed Crow Museum of Asian Art
In Richardson, Tex., the University of Texas at Dallas has opened a second location for the Crow Museum of Asian Art—the first of multiple buildings that will be part of a 12-acre cultural district. When completed, the arts and performance complex, called the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum, will include two museums, a performance hall and music building, a grand plaza, and a dedicated parking structure on the Richardson campus.
Museums | Aug 29, 2024
Bjarke Ingels' Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art conceived as village of 12 pavilions
The 60,000-sm Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China recently topped out. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the museum is conceived as a village of 12 pavilions, offering a modern interpretation of the elements that have defined the city’s urbanism, architecture, and landscape for centuries.
Cultural Facilities | Aug 21, 2024
Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat
The National Aquarium in Baltimore has opened the National Aquarium Harbor Wetland, a 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the Inner Harbor’s original Chesapeake Bay tidal marsh habitat. Located between Piers 3 and 4 on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the $14 million project features more than 32,000 native shrubs and marsh grasses.
Museums | Aug 19, 2024
The Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a $110 million expansion
In Tampa, Fla., the Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a 77,904-sf Centennial Expansion project. The museum plans to reach its $110 million fundraising goal by late 2024 or early 2025 and then break ground. Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, and with construction manager The Beck Group, the expansion will redefine the museum’s surrounding site.
Smart Buildings | Jul 25, 2024
A Swiss startup devises an intelligent photovoltaic façade that tracks and moves with the sun
Zurich Soft Robotics says Solskin can reduce building energy consumption by up to 80% while producing up to 40% more electricity than comparable façade systems.
Adaptive Reuse | Jul 12, 2024
Detroit’s Michigan Central Station, centerpiece of innovation hub, opens
The recently opened Michigan Central Station in Detroit is the centerpiece of a 30-acre technology and cultural hub that will include development of urban transportation solutions. The six-year adaptive reuse project of the 640,000 sf historic station, created by the same architect as New York’s Grand Central Station, is the latest sign of a reinvigorating Detroit.
Museums | Jun 20, 2024
Connecticut’s Bruce Museum more than doubles its size with a 42,000-sf, three-floor addition
In Greenwich, Conn., the Bruce Museum, a multidisciplinary institution highlighting art, science, and history, has undergone a campus revitalization and expansion that more than doubles the museum’s size. Designed by EskewDumezRipple and built by Turner Construction, the project includes a 42,000-sf, three-floor addition as well as a comprehensive renovation of the 32,500-sf museum, which was originally built as a private home in the mid-19th century and expanded in the early 1990s.
Libraries | Jun 7, 2024
7 ways to change 'business as usual': The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
One hundred forty years ago, Theodore Roosevelt had a vision that is being realized today. The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a cutting-edge example of what’s possible when all seven ambitions are pursued to the fullest from the beginning and integrated into the design at every phase and scale.
