Metadata
Title
The Athenaeum: The Architectural Library of Philadelphia
Creator
McAslan, Alexander
Location
London, UK
Date Created
2014
Call Number
005-LF-P031
Category
Professional
Project Assumption
The scheme utilizes the current library as a basis for design: expanding the main library and reading rooms, adding a rotunda for storage and display of rare books, reinstating the basement lecture theatre and incorporating a roof top coffee shop and semi-public reading spaces. The addition of 2d/3d scanning, projecting and printing studios will allow users to archive, explore, exhibit, and create in a new way. The digital/ physical representations of this new archive will be presented in a series of hybrid spaces throughout the building, including the large multi-media ground floor gallery as well as the rooftop reading rooms.
Project Statement
This proposal is inspired by the history of the site, both in terms of aesthetics and use. Updating the building - modifying its material palette from brown sandstone to vertical terracotta fins, and rationalizing and modernizing its geometry and detailing - can be seen as a metaphor for updating methods of communication: both are repackaged but retain their original purpose. In this scheme, the old - physical - and new - digital - do not need to cannibalize each other. By rewriting the myth of the Athenaeum with a new language, its role in society will continue.
Registration Number
46185996