Quick Look at NC State’s Hunt Library

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I thought this looked exciting

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41 Responses to Quick Look at NC State’s Hunt Library

  1. backnine 05/24/2012 at 4:04 PM #

    On the one hand, I’m happy we’re building a quality engineering library that will help raise the stature of the engineering program and NC State.

    On the other hand, I’m continuously bewildered at the architectural designs that we spend money on. While I certainly didn’t want another “same old” building erected, this one is bizarre and has little asthetic beauty. Within 10 years all those metal panels will have dingy water spots or rust cascading down. I’m sure that will be attractive! I don’t see this structure aging gracefully at all. In 25 years we’ll all look upon this thing as a massive chunk of metal with no soul. There’s nothing warm and inviting about it that would make me want to darken it’s doors. Definitely only a building that a rigid engineering type could love.

    Lastly, as a result of other new construction that I also think missed the mark (new Chancellors residence), NC State’s college of design is NOT doing itself any favors. Whatever type of design they teach there has been dotting our campus for decades with UGLY buildings. That Post-Modern Frank Loyd Wright look should have been left in the 60s & 70s to die there. Yet we keep going back there.

  2. mafpack 05/24/2012 at 4:13 PM #

    I have to be honest, I think it looks pretty cool, but after having spent time walking around the Univ. of Washington’s campus (about the same age as NC State), their decision to stick with the traditional and scholarly looking buildings I think adds so much more to the feel of academia on campus.

    If you’ve ever walked around Duke’s campus, you know what I mean. These new modern buildings are amazing (I helped do the Classroom Technology infrastructure planning on Engineering I), but they begin to have the feeling of a shiny new community college or Tech school instead of a historic and dignified University.

    For example, this is one of three libraries at UW:
    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BnOP43Mv_PY/SQX8l-HFdDI/AAAAAAAAFPg/ETq764AQeDA/s400/library.jpg

    Better Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Suzzallo_Library_Across_Red_Square.jpg
    Inside: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Suzzallo_Reading_Room_04.jpg

  3. Paramarine 05/24/2012 at 4:40 PM #

    backnine & mafpack get what I’m talking about.

  4. SMD 05/24/2012 at 5:53 PM #

    I didn’t realize the library would be that big. I wrongly assumed that the Hunt Library was more along the lines of a gubernatorial version of a presidential library.

    So here’s my question – is this meant to replace DH Hill? What will be the relationship between the two?

  5. colapack 05/24/2012 at 6:03 PM #

    “Within 10 years all those metal panels will have dingy water spots or rust cascading down. I’m sure that will be attractive! I don’t see this structure aging gracefully at all.”

    I’m guessing those are composite or insulated core aluminum panels with a 25 year finish similar to an automotive finish. Nothing to rust/corrode as long as the correct fasteners are used. And you clean it similar to a car.

    Style is subjective, not everyone likes every style. Would you rather study in a building with panoramic views or in a brick box with small classic windows? Which building will more likely get used? Lastly, style is dependant on available technology. The reason the classic style even existed was due to available construction methods of masonry primarily. Why would you continue using that style when the technology now allows more options?

  6. sequoyah 05/24/2012 at 6:17 PM #

    $100M is the kind of investment it takes to build a research library at a top-tier University. I’m fine with those aspirations.

    & we can’t go back in time – this project was initiated during a different budget environment. Long phases of planning & design & construction here we are in the new crapped out economy.

  7. sequoyah 05/24/2012 at 6:27 PM #

    As far as style, NC State is not going to be Georgian or Gothic or whatever traditional college building style works at CH or Duke or Peace College. Even more, with a crown jewel project, the University is going to push the ‘Centennial Campus modern’ envelope even further towards the cutting edge — that’s why they selected the Norwegian firm Snohetta.

    & I know what you’re mean to say backnine, but the critique is a mixed up comparison on a couple of counts — Hunt Library:Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture is kind of like Ron Paul:Abraham Lincoln, yeah they’re both Republicans, but that’s about it… and Frank Lloyd Wright:Post-modernism is kind of like FDR:Barry Goldwater, reactionary opposition seeking to debunk long-standing notions. (Either way, you’re trying to say it’s all ugly, and a lot of folks would agree with you).

  8. Wufpacker 05/24/2012 at 7:18 PM #

    “But now to my real question, where is the article on the 9th inning win over Miami last nite. Watched it on television, and knew it would be on here today. ??????”

    Without yielding to my bitchy side (to which tjfoose1 shrewdly alluded), decided not to gum up the front page with too many conflicting/confusing baseball threads. Did put up a very brief summary at the bottom of the tourney preview thread. Something will probably go up tonight or tomorrow summing up the first two games and previewing Carolina with a little more up to date details, etc.

    And the new facility looks pretty nice, btw. 🙂

  9. 61Packer 05/24/2012 at 7:28 PM #

    Shoulda put it in the center of the new roundabout on Hillsborough Street near the Bell Tower. The pesky inner traffic circle could be converted to parking spaces for the library. Win-win.

  10. Primewolf 05/24/2012 at 7:58 PM #

    I like the concept, size, robotic element, light coming in and its contribution to the school. I have no problem with the price tag, wish it could have been more.

    I have the exterior design, shape, afraid it will become a massive out of place, ugly structure that we will have for 100 years. A classical building, with lots of windows and some neat architectural elements that showed some class with a hip roof would have oozed style and looked better 100 years from now.

    I agree with the comments on the chancellors new house. Another Architecture failure.No one at NC State has ever thought about buidling and evolving the university toward a real university look and feel with class. It is never too late to start. A few non brick but stone facades would be nice.

    I have said many times, the school’s architect/planner has failed and the chancellors letting such decisions get made have failed, for example:
    1. putting the baseball field behind lee dorm, next to the tracks in the ugliest part of campus, near the vehicle maintenance center.
    2. then putting the tennis center next to it in a too small location.
    3. the whole design of much of centennail is absurd. the chancellor residence in the middle of nowhere. A university golf course you can’t walk (what a design failure). The school wouldn’t allow a few more acres for a walkable course to be developed. No cozy walkable feel to centenial, the parking is well away from the engr buildings. A totally sterile feel.

  11. backnine 05/24/2012 at 10:22 PM #

    Colapack wrote:

    “The reason the classic style even existed was due to available construction methods of masonry primarily. Why would you continue using that style when the technology now allows more options?”

    ANSWER – Because it looks better damnit! The above statement sums up NC State’s achitechtural problems – too many people connected to our design school just don’t get what LOOKS GOOD!. Lets all say it together…..WE BUILD UGLY BUILDINGS!

    If Colapack’s above statement was true then Duke would move away from Gothic buildings, VT would move away from Hokie Stone buildings, Stanford would move away from Mission style architechture, UNC would move away from the Georgian style and UVA would abandon the colonial style. None of them have or ever will. You know why?……because it LOOKS GOOD! This is what our design school apparently doesn’t teach. And this is my single biggest complaint about my alma mater.

  12. PackHooligan 05/25/2012 at 8:30 AM #

    ^Someone asked where the library is located. It is behind Partners I on Centennial Campus. My company has a location on Centennial, so I have been watching the build. I don’t love the architecture of the building, but I don’t hate it either. Centennial does need a large research library. DH Hill is too small to serve the whole campus, and it is not convenient to centennial anyways.

    I think having these libraries will be very beneficial to NC State. When I was in grad school at another university, the main library was tiny, necessitating satellite libraries all over campus. If I wanted an engineering text I would have to go to the math building where the engineering library was located, unless it was older and in the archives of the main library. If I wanted a chemistry or bio text, I’d have to go to a different library. It was just a real pain.

    As an aside, if any of you like to peruse scientific journals, it is quite cheap to become a friend of the library at NCSU (~$85/year), and you get online access to lots of journals, plus if you are local you can get a library card and get access to print materials.

  13. T. 05/25/2012 at 9:23 AM #

    SMD: “So here’s my question – is this meant to replace DH Hill? What will be the relationship between the two?

    No, it’s not replacing DH Hill. The rarely-used books in DH Hill’s stacks are getting moved over to the Hunt Library’s robotic storage (“automated book delivery system” I think they’re calling it), freeing up space in DH Hill for new amenities at some point down the road. Both buildings (as well as the smaller college-specific satellite libraries) will stay operational down the road.

    If anyone’s interested in getting involved with this or anything else Library-related, there’s a “Friends of the Library” group run by the University — FOL created a new group about a year ago focused on folks who graduated within the last 10 years. They’ve got a social coming up on June 25th @ 6:00pm at The Hive in downtown Raleigh.

  14. ncsu05mit10 05/25/2012 at 1:44 PM #

    This building is exactly what State needs.

    Though aesthetics are always a concern (and HIGHLY subjective), the reason we don’t build like we did in 1885 is because, well… it’s 2012, not 1885. A building must function or perform to serve the needs to program that is unique to modern ways of working, studying, living. Older libraries housed books and desks. Today, with most material being digitized, libraries have to adapt to new and expanded programmatic needs.

    VT gets Hokie stone for free. State gets bricks for free. That’s why EVERYTHING on campus is brick (dicks and bricks I was once told). It takes a huge effort to not use our yearly allotment of brick. This is unfortunate b/c today we can build more energy efficiently and produce more open and light filled spaces with steel and glass.

    I have a real problem with NC State being tied to the past– particularly when we’re supposed to lead in the advancement of technology and research. Duke and UNC can have their traditional quads and Gothic or Georgian style– it represents outdated thinking and production of space. NC State has a school of architecture– and they haven’t been teaching traditional design since the 1940’s. If you like that, you can go study architecture at Notre Dame, the only school in the US that still educates by the Beaux Arts method (talk about a place that has been left in the past).

    It also speaks volumes that State went and hired an internationally renowned firm. This project will be documented in national articles and will get national attention. The Chancellor’s house had a nice write up in the N&O, but this will do a little better than that.

    Everyone might want to take a look at what other universities are doing.

    Several links:

    http://www.architypereview.com/24-university-/projects

    http://morphopedia.com/projects/university-of-cincinnati-campus-recreati

    http://www.dezeen.com/2011/11/03/milstein-hall-by-oma/

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stata_Center

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kresge_Auditorium

    http://www.kpf.com/project.asp?ID=68

  16. ancsu87 05/29/2012 at 12:42 AM #

    State was a damn fine engineering school. Went I went to chemical engineering school there we still had the reputation as the no. 1 school that DuPont hired BS ChE from because they knew our graduates could go straight to work and hit the ground running. That was before companies and the USA in general got hooked on “rankings” based on graduate programs and research spending. Monteith and the likes started this. This is how you get people wanting to go into debt to attend Columbia for a history degree when they could get just as educated or better at UNC-W with a history degree.

    We have forgotten in the country that WW2 was not won by a bunch of ivy league educated morons but by a bunch of people with a “can do attitude”. That was before we started educating engineers to talk down to people and putting more emphasis on research grants than educating engineers to work in industry.

    BTW – it is an engineering school so why should one bitch about building a library on the engineering part of the campus?

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