METAL STUD PRECAST Although precast concrete is an outstanding architectural material, its heavy weight can limit where and how it's used. A recently completed project demonstrates how a relatively new type of lighter-weight hybrid wall system combining cold-formed metal studs and precast concrete can expand opportunities to apply precast technologies. — Published 2006.0712
	GRANDE BIBLIOTHÈQUE DU QUÉBEC A grand pedestrian promenade behind the front facade of the new Grande Bibliothèque of the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ) links directly with the Metro, creating a 24-hour public thoroughfare tied into the fabric of the local community. The new library, in Montréal's Latin Quarter, houses two major collections: a large national reference library and an extensive lending library. But the 355,000-square-foot (33,000-square-meter), five-story glazed structure serves more than books. — Published 2006.0614
	LIBRARY ENLIGHTENED The original Skillman Library was always a bit of an arsenal for books. Designed by Philadelphia architect Vincent Kling and constructed in 1963 on the campus of Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, it was a limestone and brick fortress with narrow slit windows and all the warmth of a bunker. The design of the limestone cornice at the building's top even suggested battlements. — Published 2006.0125
	WHERE THE LAW IS CLEAR At the University of Hamburg, the new Central Library of Law is a showcase of "green" operations that also projects a literally green, leaf-patterned backdrop for a historic villa. The German firm me di um Achitekten, partners Klaus Roloff and Michael Ruffing, conceived the library as a compact and transparent book warehouse, connected to the existing Faculty of Law building by a glass atrium. The library's facades and atrium perform dual roles of energy conservation and accommodation to the existing campus. — Published 2005.0831
	ROOTS AND BRANCHES Located in a quiet neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, yet near the busy Capitol Highway which connects downtown with its western suburbs, Hillsdale Branch Library occupies a transitional point between single-family homes to the north and a series of commercial buildings to the south. — Published 2005.0817
	SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY Were the architects inspired by sculpture when they designed the idiosyncratic form of the Seattle Public Library? Were they perhaps influenced by the angularity of the nearby street sculpture, Vertebrae, by Henry Moore? — Published 2005.0420
	LEGENDARY LIBRARY RESURRECTED There are many legends about the destruction of the great library in Alexandria 2000 years ago, but much less historical fact about the building itself has survived. Three libraries may have coexisted in the ancient city, but scant data remains about their location, layout, holdings, organization, administration, or physical structure. — Published 2001.0919

Libraries