ARCHITECTURE FOR THE BOOKS

Our historically romantic notion of the library is that of mellow book-lined walls creating discrete places for reading, browsing, and study: the book defining the architecture. The history of library design provides many rich and evocative examples of this image, yet this is not the environment of most contemporary libraries. Next week architects Merrill Elam and Michael J. Crosbie will show us the new generation of this classic building type.

DEMOLITION DEBRIS RECYCLING

A lot of attention recently has been given to the reuse of building materials rescued from demolition sites. Of course, some materials are more reusable than others. Now the Commonwealth of Virginia has demonstrated a impressive savings of by recycling broken concrete. Next week we'll see how they have made this debris live again in a new structure.