Here Comes the Sun

As college and university construction proliferated with the end of World War II, the benefits of the GI Bill, and the start of the Baby Boom, there was a surge in the establishment of new academic libraries. Shaped by the confluence of postwar optimism and Cold War brutalism, many libraries of this period focused inward, creating both a quiet place for study and research and a repository for books—along with impenetrable-looking exteriors, limited fenestration, and a negligible response to context. More than half a century later, many of these buildings merit rehabilitation to meet contemporary programming and study predilections.

“Renovating midcentury academic libraries requires a strategic balancing of the priorities set by librarians, facilities teams, and university leadership,” observes Principal Gili Meerovitch, who co-⁠leads Perkins Eastman’s libraries practice. “These projects must respect the historical and architectural significance of the original structures while addressing modern demands such as technology integration and user-centered spaces. Through thoughtful reimagining, these libraries can continue to shape the academic experience while fostering innovation and belonging.”

Alignment with current library practices is the goal of three of the firm’s recent renovation projects: Columbia University’s Law Library in New York City, Colorado College’s Charles L. Tutt Library in Colorado Springs, and Johns Hopkins University’s Milton S. Eisenhower Library in Baltimore. Improvements include the introduction of natural light, prioritization of accessibility and comfort, broadened programmatic potential, and implementation of performance strategies and systems.

Law Library at Columbia University

Columbia University’s Law Library has remained largely unchanged since it opened in 1961, despite significant shifts in learning styles, technologies, postures, and expectations for libraries. Located in Jerome L. Greene Hall, which was designed by Max Abramovitz of Harrison & Abramovitz, it is currently undergoing a transformation across three levels of its existing stacks and reading areas. Principal Mindy No, serving as project manager, is leading the renovation to reimagine the law library as a marquee space that reflects its central role in student learning, groundbreaking scholarship, and community engagement.

“The former library,” she notes, “had low ceilings, dark interiors, outdated finishes, narrow corridors, and limited seating and study options.” To introduce more natural light into the interior, a double-height reading room was created through strategic demolition of the floor slabs, along with added steel column reinforcements. The new space takes advantage of the existing glazing to frame expansive views of the surrounding campus and the university’s main quad.

The project team, she says, “had to navigate design and technical challenges presented by conditions that were not reflected in the historical as-built drawings as well as concerns about the concrete slab’s integrity.” For example, “demolition and removal of the floor finish revealed that certain slab locations were crumbling, which required removal and replacement with new slab and steel.” The result is a bold repositioning of the library to accommodate diverse learning styles and user experiences in a sustainable, collaborative, and inclusive environment. Flexible seating options are distributed throughout, and wide stairways facilitate connections between levels. In its pursuit of LEED Gold for Commercial Interiors, the team employed biophilic strategies, incorporating natural materials such as marble, wood, terrazzo, and metals, along with low-VOC finishes and recycled content.

This project represents one of the most significant capital investments in the history of the law school, helping Columbia maintain its Tier 1 status. When the library reopens later this year, it will serve as a model for peer institutions nationwide.

Milton S. Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins University

Facing similar challenges, the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, designed by Wrenn, Lewis and Jencks, is undergoing its first major renovation since its completion in 1964. The project aims to transform the building into a vibrant center for scholarly pursuits, leveraging improvements to physical accessibility, technology, systems replacement, and performance challenges into design opportunities that enhance the user experience.

A beloved campus landmark, the building’s iconic lobby features double-height spaces with full-height glazing on the east and west sides, travertine wall cladding on the north and south, and a custom chandelier, that, along with the cladding, is critical to the library’s identity. The wall cladding is being preserved and the chandelier restored, while other aspects of the lobby will be strategically improved. The renovation will also provide a new accessible entry and bring natural light deep into the four below-grade floors that currently house the majority of collections and research/study areas in an artificially illuminated environment.

Creating flexible, high-quality study spaces while optimizing natural daylight and other forms of lighting is a major impetus for the renovation. A new central stair carved through the building and a generous, walkable skylight above it will become the glowing heart of the building, providing wayfinding, circulation, and bringing visual warmth to all floors.

“A key piece of the modernization of the Eisenhower Library,” points out Dianne Chia, project architect, “is to update the building for access and inclusivity. The main doors to the original building were elevated above the lobby with a short flight of steps, making it a convoluted and unwelcoming entry. We addressed this by removing the elevated slab, creating an entry directly at lobby level that is coordinated with the enhanced lobby design and new exterior landscaping.”

Two-thirds of the university’s energy requirements are supplied by an off-campus facility with 500,000 solar panels. The library is targeting LEED Gold, and it is designed to be net-zero emissions and energy ready—the first building renovation on campus to do so—in preparation of immediate switch over when the primary campus infrastructure is replaced.

Charles L. Tutt Library at Colorado College

Designed in 1962 by architect Walter Netsch of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the brutalist style, the library’s original fortress-like exterior belied finely detailed interior elements such as concrete ceiling coffers. When the college determined the library needed expansion and renovation, it also committed to achieving net zero energy (NZE), a challenge for most renovations, especially academic buildings from the postwar era. Major goals included bringing natural light into the library’s interior spaces and establishing visual connections to its surroundings, affording views of the Rocky Mountains, adding exterior terraces, and reestablishing the adjacent Tava Quad.

Exterior precast concrete panels were removed in select areas to maintain the required percentage of glazing to achieve NZE while opening student-centric spaces to vistas of the Rockies and campus. And technological challenges arose on all fronts: introducing new fenestration, exterior balconies, multiple exits, and a formal entry while achieving NZE performance; joining a new structure to an old one (aligning floors, accommodating new systems, HVAC, sprinklers, and lighting); and adhering to strict requirements for sensitive temperature and humidity controls for special collections, as well as the building’s 24/7 use.

To fulfill the project’s goals, “the team maximized the sustainable aspects of the existing building and the addition,” says Stephanie Kingsnorth, principal in charge. “Designing the building systems to work with the low existing floor-to-floor height of the 1962 building and transitioning the systems between the original structure and the additions were critical parts of the design process,” she adds, “requiring careful coordination to work within the limitations of the original building and to embrace the opportunities presented by the expansion.”

Due to challenges like those Kingsnorth outlined, constant coordination throughout the design and construction phases was essential to the project’s success, especially with the design-build contractor and subcontractors. The subcontractors, who were used to hiding everything above ceilings, came to understand that even routing sprinkler lines in alignment with the original concrete coffers was crucial to the visual sensibility of the project, which called for exposed ceilings in public areas to highlight the original structure. Ceiling heights in offices and classrooms were constantly revised as new systems were integrated. Unfortunately, many of the design-build subcontractors weren’t aware of the unique column and beam intersections in the 1962 building. Working carefully, the trades rerouted elements and the design team added soffits and incrementally lowered ceilings to allow the systems to fit into the original building.

The NZE building is wrapped in a red ribbon of fiber-cement panels—inspired by the nearby Garden of the Gods geologic formations—that engages at the foot of the western edge of the addition and rises to encircle the original building, creating a visual dialogue between new and old.

The renovation of Tutt and the libraries at Columbia and Johns Hopkins—three architecturally significant structures—not only improves their function, accessibility, comfort, and sustainability, but also supports expanded programs, ensuring the continued existence of cherished campus buildings. N