CREJ - Journal

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32 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / MARCH 2015
M odern higher education libraries have
faced a crucial choice in the last decade:
Do they stay the traditional knowledge
centers that provide information services to their
students, or do they adapt to a new role as students’
needs evolve? Most libraries have chosen to change
in response to student and faculty demands for an
information commons space that provides not only
data support, but social interaction and access to tech-
nology. Starting in 2004, our firm partnered with the
University of Denver to transform its Penrose Library
from a focus on paper to people by redefining this
campus hub into a 21st century, tech-savvy and digitally
based Academic Commons.
The traditional library was very much about individ-
ual quiet study within the confines of a paper collec-
tion. The librarian was there to answer questions, and
computers were still years away. This was the model
that Penrose Library was built on 39 years ago. The li-
brary had to transform to support 21st century learning,
dramatically underlined by electronic use (i.e., comput-
ers, tablets, smartphones, etc.) – or else face obsolescence.
Its prime location in the very center of campusmeant
that it was perfectly situated to once more become the
student hub, that defining symbol of knowledge with
the flexibility to ebb and flow with the ever changing
learning environment. To get there, paper needed to
be exchanged for technology, square feet needed to be
dedicated to people, the emphasis turned from indi-
vidual to group, research from analog to digital, and
space from static to dynamic.
The university needed to change its views about
how students were taught, and how the library fit into
this new style of learning. In many classrooms, col-
laborative learning environments have replaced lec-
ture-style classes, and the library had to adapt to this
new academic style.
Need. While this kind of dramatic restructuring of
the university library isn’t unique, this particular proj-
ect was unique in that a flexible, vibrant and tech-sav-
vy 21st century learning environment had to be creat-
ed from a 39-year-old antiquated building – all while
maintaining existing library services and promoting
new academic collaboration.
Solution. The leading component of this project was
the transition to digital scholarly publish-
ing, freeing valuable people space. Almost 65
percent of the collection was moved off-site,
with the remaining 35 percent resituated into
high-density moveable shelving. Alongside
the myriad use areas created for study and col-
laboration in this new-found space, the overlay
of a rich technological web over the 3 acres of
floor space allows extreme flexibility and con-
stant communication for building use and infor-
mation gathering. This includes online room res-
ervations and management, digital book browsing
and research, interactive way finding and digital
signage, virtual classrooms, video wall displays, vid-
eoconferencing rooms, group study areas with LCDs
to support information sharing, and cloud-based com-
puters with the latest software.
As with any project, obstacles had to be overcome.
The largest one was the unforeseen opposition to hav-
ing the majority of the books relocated off-site and
browsing turned digital. This was overcome by imple-
Chad O. Novak,
AIA, NCARB
Principal,
H+L
Architecture
TRENDS in Higher Education
Within the first year of
completion, the re-imagined
academic commons
reached its record traffic
count in one day – over
5,000 people – beating
the old record by almost
15 percent.
Individual study areas