Description
On an architecturally diverse quadrangle of the University of Chicago’s campus, the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library is neighbor to Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture
While it is chiefly known for its iconic glass-domed reading room and its underground robotic stacks, the significance of the Mansueto Library in an age of digital technology is its affirmation of accessible print for the research library.
With a university acquisition rate of 150,000 volumes a year, the Regenstein Library, completed in 1970, was operating at full capacity. A university task force considered and rejected the prevalent solutions of “browseable” high-density shelving and off-site storage. It also declined to digitize and dispose of less-used collections, a solution embraced by similar academic institutions. With a circulation of 600,000 items in 2004 and the fact that “copyright law prevents the university from offering full digital access to about 80 % of its holdings” (
Used for years in industrial settings, the automated storage and retrieval system consists of racks, storage bins and a robotic crane for retrieval. The ASRS requires one seventh of the space required on traditional shelving and, at the time of the opening of the Mansueto Library, only 25 or fewer ASRS had been used in academic library applications. Mansueto’s 15.2 m high system, the largest in North America, employs 1,200 racks to yield a capacity of 3.5 million volumes. The library has identified 1 million items for such storage, items that are deemed too fragile or not required for browsing on open stacks. The items are recorded in the library systems through scanned barcodes and stored by size rather than classification. Patrons fill online requests that trigger a retrieval sequence. One of five robotic cranes identifies the bin, retrieves it and delivers it to a loading dock in three minutes. To date, the ASRS at Mansueto has remaining storage capability for the next two decades.
In reversing the design brief and placing the book storage underground, Jahn has created a new Chicago icon in the 12.2 m high, glass-encased steel structure. The elliptical dome houses a 180 person, 743 m² reading room, a circulation service center and the conservation laboratory. Constructed as an insulated glass canopy of 700 segments of fritted glass, the dome’s exterior layer rejects solar gain and provides shading while admitting visible light to the reading room within. The quality of natural light within the interior environment is well-suited to reading or repairing of books, corroborating the library’s emphasis on printed matter. Artificial lighting is discreetly placed within the ventilation kiosks and integrated into the steel structure. White oak tables and chairs trimmed with stainless steel, designed by Yorgo Lykouria, further enhance the minimalist interior of the reading room. In her decision to privilege site storage, Library Director Judith Nadler was in no way rejecting digital collections. A contributor to the Google Books project since 2010, Nadler recognizes the potential of technology, employs it intelligently and efficiently to enhance reading and the book in “a bold statement of continued centrality of libraries for modern culture.” (
Drawings
Site plan
Basement
Ground floor
Section through the underground book storage system
Design sketch
Photos
View of the glass-domed grand reading room
Interior view of the grand reading room
Originally published in: Nolan Lushington, Wolfgang Rudorf, Liliane Wong, Libraries: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2016.