Paste your essay in here…As a junior architect at the prominent firm I work at, a competition for a small library in Atlanta is my first major competition I will be in. This is the deciding factor to prove to the senior architects if I will be adequate to remain at this firm. In this competition, the library requirements are to design a 400-800 square foot reading room as well as open stacks, a 200-400 square foot closed stacks space, a small picture gallery, and an office for the library staff as well as a circulation desk. While taking these requirements into consideration, the library designed is a space that combines the new technologies of the Industrial Revolution that are more easily mass produced and can be found in the Crystal Palace along with the ideas of the Enlightenment. It is important to show how Atlanta has been able to keep up with the rapid industrialization as well as inspire the citizens to learn and think as the great Enlightenment philosophers have.
The library designed contains a grand, main hall that resembles the Crystal Palace in England through the use of materials. In the middle of the intersecting barrel-vaulted halls, there will be a round circulation desk. There will also be four 400 square foot spaces on each corner of the library with a heavy stone material and no windows. Rounded ramps will be provided as a pathway to each specific space. These spaces will serve as the picture gallery, the open stacks and reading room, closed stacks, and an office for the library staff. On the outside of the space, there will be 2 identical façades. The façades show the harsh contrast in materials through the use of stone opposed to glass with iron framing which was first used in a grand scale at the Crystal Palace.
As previously stated, the façades will show harsh contrast through the materials chosen for the library. The materials to be used are stone masonry as well as glass with iron framing. The harsh contrasts of light and shadow in this space can resemble closely to Boullee’s designs for the National Library. The light from the outside will pour into the space where the people will be reading. After leaving the dark enclosed space with their selected books, the people will be overwhelmed by the amount of light coming through the windows of the main halls, consisting only of glass with timber and iron framework, where they will be able to sit around and read what they choose. This contrast of light and shadow will instill a sense of awe and convey how powerful knowledge is to the people at the library. The façade has minimal ornamentation aside from a string course and cornice line which is to imitate radical Neoclassical ideas that were used by the two-leading architect of the movement, Boullee and Ledoux. Radical Neoclassical architects, Boullee in particular, believed ornamentation of a building should reflect the use of the building.
The inspiration behind this project are the Crystal Palace as well as the Enlightenment ideas in France with the designs of Ledoux and Boullee. Ideas from the Crystal Palace can be seen in the large barrel-vaulted main halls that use the latest materials of iron and glass to give the space a bright and airy environment which will draw people into the space. By using these new materials, it allows for the library goers to feel connected with the space and excited about the growing industrialization in their city. Industrialization at the beginning of the 19th century was more optimistic, even Prince Albert hoped the rapid change and growth in technology would ‘unite the human race.’ This space will give the people an overwhelming experience of light causing them to feel enlightened through the transparency of the glass which encapsulates the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers.
Both Boullee’s and Ledoux’s works have been a major source of inspiration when designing the layout. Boullee’s use of sublime seen in designs for the Cenotaph of Newton as well as the designs for the National library creates a concept that I wish to convey in the library. Through his use of extreme contrasts of light and shadow with expanding and compressing various spaces, he instills a feeling of awe and being overwhelmed with inspiration, a physical enlightenment experience. Ledoux, in his design for the saltworks in the ideal city of Chaux, is seen in the layout of the library. He uses radial and semi-radial plans with a central structure to serve as a moral surveyor or even a “big brother” figure. In this library plan, it is more bilateral symmetry, but the central space is the circulation desk that takes on the role of the surveyor. The desk shape is a literal representation itself. Having a circular circulation desk is a nod Ledoux in this work.
I wish to convey the spirit of the 18th and 19th century by blending the ideas of the Enlightenment as well as industrialization. In a way, they have similar beliefs and ideas. These are that through change and growth, society as a whole will get better. Whether it be bettering the mind of all or bettering the technologies presented to us, we are becoming better versions of ourselves which is the main point that was meant to be conveyed to the citizens of Atlanta through this library proposal.