BEINECKE

LIBRARY
YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN, CT
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Architect: Gordon Bunshaft of SOM, 1963

ARCH 3281: Studio 1: Material Assemblies, Project 2 Case Study

Professor, Andrea Johnson
Robert Svaia, Brandon Zou, Alex Ruhland
 INTRODUCTION

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University

in New Haven, Connecticut was designed by Gordon Bunshaft of SOM,
and is one of the greatest examples of modernist buildings on university
campuses in the United States and represents a physical departure
for Yale University's central ‘Cross’ campus from historic 19th century
buildings to more modern interventions. Ultimately Beinecke
represents more of an authoritative and protected building
contrasting from the social and open spaces surrounding it. It
serves its purpose to protect the collection while providing a
conservative front to the University that subtly interacts with the
rest of campus but stands as a powerful symbol of historical
protection and knowledge. As one of the largest libraries devoted
to rare books, Beinecke has become an icon in both the cultural
and architectural arenas.

Previous Images: Exterior of Beinecke from Plaza, Night shot of

Beinecke’s glass lobby.
Model of Beinecke Library Plaza and mass

Interior of Yale University’s Beinecke Library KEY FACTS

PROGRAM
Beinecke holds Yale University’s collection of rare books including
a selection of the first printed bibles by Gutenberg as well as other
publications dating back centuries. It is one of the world’s largest
repository of these types of books and is an important symbol.
The form of the Beinecke rare book library is an odd one.
The purpose of a library is to be a quiet sanctuary for people
to work and learn. This is a difficult task for this building
Location: Yale University Campus, New Haven, Connecticut
Architect: Gordon Bunshaft of (SOM) Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill
Project Completed: October of 1963
Materials: Concrete, Glass, Granite, Structural Steel, Vermont Marble
Footprint: 125,262 sq ft
Accomidations: 180,000 Volumes in Central Tower & 600,000 Volumes
underground.
ABOVE GROUND STRUCTURE

since it has a plaza and public lobby cut through the center of it.
This is why programming of the space is crucial. People first
enter the space through the lobby form the plaza outside. WORK
AREA
Above this lobby is a book storage tower that almost touches
the ceiling and is surrounded by and exhibit hall. This space
is meant to be a semi-public space for tours and showcases. STORAGE
READING
EXITS COURTYARD
The function makes sense because the lobby below is openly ROOM

exposed to the exhibit hall above, meaning that sound coming

from the public lobby can most likely be heard from the floor above. WORK
AREA

The level under the lobby consists of a work area, the control desk reading rooms and offices. OFFICES

The work area and control desk are separated from the reading rooms and offices by the stair case
and stair hall. The area below that is mainly book storage and mechanical storage. The CATALOG
ROOMS
BOOK STORAGE
mechanical room is located here as well in order to keep is out of sight and also to make it less
A Gutenberg Bible on display in the main gallery audible to readers above.
MATERIAL

Beinecke library is a floating rectangular prism of translucent panels. The general structural materials of this building
are granite (light gray granite from Vermont), marble, steel, and concrete. The bronze is also been used when designers
set up stairways and displays. Beinecke is a box within a box. Each wall of the box is a Vierendeel truss rigid framework
formed by welding each prefabricated tapered steel. Crossed together they can not only carry their own weight, but also
carry the roof load. However, the stresses can come from different points, such as the granite, steel and marble panels. A
s a result it needs a main supporting structure that can support the trusses reaching down to the bedrock below the
foundation. The columns at each exterior corner of the box can be useful to solve this problem. So it is a box sitting
on four points. Between the rigid framework, the designer placed white; gray-veined marble panels about one and a
quarter inch thick. The marble is translucent so that light can enter the library while filtering out the harmful ultraviolet
rays and lighting in library will be in a warm color. For this reason one of the beauty of Beinecke is that its interior lighting
color will vary with the changing of the weather outside. In each season the scenery will also be different.

CONTEXT

Gordon Bunshaft gained critical and historical acclaim for the design
of two other buildings in his lifetime. Prior to the construction of the Vierendeel truss structure shown during construction
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, under SOM, he designed
the Lever House in New York City. The sleek glass skyscraper, the
headquarters for a soap company: the Lever Brothers, was built in
the modern international style that Mies Van Der Rohe had established
in designs such as the Seagram Building in Manhattan and 860-880
Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago. The building quickly gained
national recognition and was added to the National Register of Historic
Places. The glass curtain walls and steel construction of the Lever House
contrast sharply with the brutalist designs for the Beinecke Library but
considering their varying purposes and programs, the designs show
Bunshaft's general attention to process of design rather than creating
a signature mark on a skyline. Following the Beinecke Library, Bunshaft's
next remarkable design was for the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C.,
a contemporary art museum situated on the Smithsonian Mall adjacent to
the capital. This structure featured more similarities to the Beinecke Library
than the Lever House with its concrete exterior. The windows face the interior
courtyard and the structure is lifted above the ground and placed on
pedestals, the structure features more similarities to the Beinecke Library.
They both represent Gordon Bunshaft's at the firm's departure from the
international style and more experimentation into exterior spatial qualities.
At Yale, like many University campuses in the United States, there are a
myriad of different architectural periods represented. Buildings
Bunshaft’s Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.
date back to the 18th century, while there is a wide variety of modern
buildings constructed after World War II. Lever House, New York City
 THE SITE
Grove Street

University Dining Hall

High Street
Law School Woolsey Hall

Bienecke
Library N

Wall Street

Bass Library
Sprague Hall

Cross Campus

Beinecke Library and Plaza Site and Context: Surrounded

BEINECKE’S IMPACT by neoclassical and gothic structures, the plaza and library
are a modern interpretation existing in a void between the
There was a shift during the period for all buildings at Yale to exhibit modernist principles, to go back buildings that are adjacent.
to the basics of what a building should be. Hence came a boom of modern buildings on campus.
Beinecke, however, is the only modernist building that was constructed near the center of campus,
all other examples of buildings from this period were constructed on the outskirts. It was the first
building in this fashion to be accepted so close to the epicenter of the University. The structures
directly across from the courtyard of the library were constructed in the early 19th century. They
feature a neo-classical aesthetic with large marble columns. The hard edges and brutal stone
facade of the Beinecke Library fits with this aesthetic but provides a more modern twist. The
building sunken into the ground from the street level as if to give attention to the scaled-down
streetscape of the surrounding area and mirror the scale of the surrounding buildings as to reduce
the enormity of the structure. The building also responds to weather and light providing even the
regular passerby, a different perspective each time. Over time the building has become less
unusual in the context of the rest of campus. Cross campus and the plaza in front of Beinecke
contrast completely, as cross campus is considered the epicenter of collaborative learning and
social interaction while the buildings surrounding and including Beinecke house a protected p
rogram and collection and are less open to the plaza that they flank.

Site Facade Comparison

 YALE SITE GLASS BEINECKE
BOX
CROSS
CAMPUS
LOBBY
▲▼

COURTYARD

BASEMENT

Procession through alternating mass and void: Concept Diagram

CONCEPT

Beinecke highlights the experiential relationships of the spatial conditions of mass and void. It creates a
proccesional choreographed movement through the building which alternates between mass and void. Considering
Yale’s cross campus and northern edge as a mass of gothic, neoclassical, and victorian era structures, the plaza
of the library represents a void which interupts the leisurely paths of the rest of campus with a striking flat, gridded
and gray ground plane with an extended mass of the library. The void exaggerates the mass of the Library’s
above ground structure, the mass itself exaggerates the central glass box collection and provides a symbol
to the surrounding buildings of protection and safety with its monolithic nature. The floating natue of the mass
above the plaza, with a dark lobby entry way provide a sense of mystery which moves people through into the building.
The complexity of the gridded facade maintains order while subtly introducing more ornamentation to play off the
surrounding buildings on the site.

The void between the exterior casing and the glass box core allows for the occupant to see the extent of the massive
collection which is centered in the space and lit, showing off the books directly. The lobby below the Glass box
allows light to enter the space below and provides a void seperation between the mass of the glass box and
that of the basement below the plaza. The courtyard which provides a void in the basement attracts people
to the outside courtyard. Once in the void which operates like a shelter, only the immediate facade of Beinecke
and the surrounding structures can be seen, reiterating the symbol of protection.

Axonometric Drawing of Site plan

 FACADE

Ambient lighting
inside

Does not reach

bookcase

Interior views of the Library mass

Diffused light passed through

the wall

Interior Light Diagram

Exploded facade components: Granite, Marble, Steel Structure, Marble

 East Elevation North Elevation

Section: North to South Section: West to East

 Floorplan of first level of library mass

Beinecke Library Aerial View

Floorplan on the basement level

MODELS

Facade studies: Materiality,

Gridding, Unit structure

Massing Studies: Site

and courtyard
FINAL MODELS
CITATIONS

"Beinecke Library Construction." Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Yale University. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library: A Guide to the Collections. New Haven, CT: Yale U Library, 1994. Print.

"Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library." Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, 04 Sept. 2014. Web.

"Lever House." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Sept. 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

Moffett, Marian, Michael W. Fazio, and Lawrence Wodehouse. Buildings across Time: An Introduction to World Architecture. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.

Parks, Stephen, and Robert Gary Babcock. The Beinecke Library of Yale University. New Haven, CT: Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, 2003. Print.

Correspondance:

Wendy Chang, Records Manager, Skidmore Owings & Merrill New York (SOM)

Professor Andrea Johnson

Images:

http://www.architravel.com/architravel_wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Beinecke_Rare_Book_and_Manuscript_Library_2.jpg

"Beinecke Library Construction." Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Yale University. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GmUcRix_cAc/S7YDUSSOW5I/AAAAAAAAARs/YRAEgHtCwJ8/s1600/Yale+University+-+Beinecke+Rare+Book+and+Manuscript+Library_BEINECKE_MODEL_ES12V13.jpg

http://www.som.com/projects/yale_university__beinecke_rare_book_and_manuscript_library