Library and Student Success Center
Project Description
This dynamic icon located at the heart of an urban campus is a crossroads combining next-generation library with one-stop student services, organization lounges, food services, and performance theatre. The opportunities for student interaction and engagement in various flexible configurations are the constant theme. The facility provides support for contemporary collaborative learning in both academic and campus life settings.
Project Stats
Location
Charlotte, NC
Year Completed
2021
Size
182,650 sq. ft.
Project Gallery
Design Features
Four unique entrances and an elevated bridge connection anchor a multi-faceted/multi-level site. Responding differently to city streets and a traditional landscape quadrangle, the facility creates a daily pass-through of balconies and bridges that provide engaging experiences and interaction opportunities, open, daylit, multi-level spaces draw users to the center hub of activity and organize access to the various program areas. Occupiable green roof courtyards and balconies provide a connection to each orientation by accommodating generous outdoor gathering spaces that overlook the downtown skyline, the busy urban street, and the virtually transparent extension of the campus quadrangle into the internal atrium.
Rich combinations of campus-matching masonry and stone blend in with the mixed traditional campus vernacular, while the façade transparency reinforces a new icon of campus activity. The dynamic massing breaks down the scale of this large complex and identifies the multiple program components while creating adjacent active outdoor spaces for gathering and collaboration. The curved library bar anchors the quadrangle while framing a beloved existing campus clock tower, elevating it to become an iconic campus gateway while providing glimpses into the heart of the traditional academic quad from the streetscape.