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HODGETTS + FUNG

Towell Library UCLA

Westwood

General Description

Our design for the Powell Temporary Library at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) is conceived as a grouping of tented land-forms arranged to receive the Westwood extension of the original campus axis and redirect it towards the active Student Center to the south. The site is located between two Romanesque revival buildings and terminates Janss Memorial Stairway. It is marked by a monumental classical balustrade, which we thought to integrate by the array of internal axes and radii to define the building volumes. Thus, the semi-circular East Reading Room is tangential to the stair, while the circular West Reading Room is co-axial with the balustrade.

Since the project was subject to severe time and budget constraints, we chose to employ a re-usable aluminum and fabric roofing system capable of rapid construction for the major enclosures, and to link them with an intentionally varied ensemble of disposable masonry, wood and plastic substructures. An integrally-colored concrete block similar in hue to the brick and limestone characteristic of the campus proper establishes the periphery of the land-form, suggesting the foundation of a building which is no longer there, and reinforces, by contrast, the temporary nature of the structure which covers it.

The resulting assembly of rational individual components defines services and transition areas within the volume, while a braced steel substructure carries the mezzanine and stabilizes the ribs at mid-span. As in an aircraft, decorative emphasis is placed on the orchestration of fasteners, cables, and exposed elements necessary for the efficient operation of the library.

Program Solution

The design program was to provide a structure to temporarily house the collection of the main undergraduate library during 2-1/2 year seismic upgrading of the permanent library building. The architectural solution combined tensile, steel and masonry structures to create a library "complex" of four distinct buildings; an open plan Main Library Hall and mezzanine housing the majority of the collection, two reading room "pods" and an administrative wing. The structures were connected by passageways of informal "lounge" seating and a central service core containing bathrooms and mechanical/electrical rooms.

Unique Requirements

The University required a temporary building that would preserve the existing plaza between the historical Dance Building and the Men's Gym. The siting of the structure integrated existing elements of the surrounding context and the foundations were designed to preserve the existing paving beneath the building. The University intends to utilize the structure for other functions once the library seismic upgrading is complete. The design of four separate buildings breaks down the mass of the project and provides versatility for a variety of other programs to occupy the spaces.

Library Director Statement

Plan and design of the Temporary Library provided an opportunity to accommodate modernized services and electronic access now prevalent in academic libraries as well as traditional study and print oriented environments. Goals were to have an easily understood and logically organized facility with areas for activities requiring human interaction such as online catalog use, reference tool consultation and interpretation, teaching and computer labs along with areas more isolated to allow for concentrated individual study. The floor plan succeeded in providing such areas and provides a variety of aesthetic experiences for users.