ArchitectureWeek No. 542 is now available on the Web, with these new design and building features, and more.

This Notes edition is sponsored by Georgia-Pacific:

Murphy/Jahn designed the new Joe and Rika Mansueto Library on the campus of the University of Chicago. Photo: Rainer Viertlbock

AIA's Best New Buildings from Chicago
by ArchitectureWeek

A glass dome rises from a lawn on the University of Chicago campus. This ellipsoidal structure by Murphy/Jahn — a counterpoint in form and materials to the eclectic buildings around it — is the refined tip of the iceberg for the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library.

This new library building was recently honored by the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects in its 2011 Design Excellence Awards. Honorees range from schools and corporate campuses to a zoo — most in the Chicago area, while ranging as far as Shanghai and Dubai.

Underground Library

Mansueto Library is primarily a vessel for compact book storage. The University of Chicago had sought to build a container that would house 3.5 million volumes using an automated storage and retrieval system.

Rather than the above-ground box expected by the client, architect Helmut Jahn placed the collections storage underground, where the books can be kept more efficiently at the desired constant temperature of 60 degrees and 30 percent relative humidity. At ground level, the elliptical glass dome houses the building's people-oriented spaces, providing daylight and views while minimizing the building's profile, helping preserve the sense of open space in this part of campus.

The 50,650-square-foot (4,706-square-meter) Mansueto Library contains only materials from other campus libraries, including the neighboring Regenstein Library — a brutalist limestone building designed by SOM's Walter Netsch. Users enter Mansueto through a bridge from Regenstein, leading into the new building's 8,000-square-foot (740-square-foot) reading room, which occupies the south end of the dome.

At the center of the dome is the circulation desk, which serves as the portal for patrons requesting materials from the underground storage. At the north end, the library preservation department divides 6,000 square feet (560 square meters) of space into digitization and conservation laboratories.   *|FACEBOOK:LIKE|*   >>>

What do you know about lightning? True or False:

The Empire State Building is struck about seven times a year.

On average, a commercial airliner is struck once during every 5,000 to 10,000 hours of flying time.

Roughly 2,000 thunderstorms are in progress over the earth's surface at any given time, producing as many as 100 cloud-to-ground discharges every second.

The Midwestern states experience the most lightning activity in the United States.

A lightning channel is about 8 inches (20 centimeters) in diameter.

A lightning flash could light a 100-watt bulb for three months.

If you combine two sound sources, each at 50 decibels (dB) what will be the resultant dB level? If you double the distance to a sound source, you reduce the dB by how much?