Norwich Public Library
Graduate | Undergraduate
Studio | Non-Studio
1st | 2nd | 3rd Year, 1st | 2nd Semester (Fall 2022)
Instructor: Mark Foster Gage
In this project, located at Yantic Falls in Norwich, CT, the entire roof functions as approximately 30,000 square feet of public park, the edge of which is extruded from the topography line before a significant drop.
This provides unprecedented access to views of the river and waterfall from both inside the library and from the roof park, which provides a mix of slopes and flat planes, tree cover for shading and pedestrian walkways along the shore, inspired by the Beaver Lake in my hometown of Montreal.
The roof is mostly a uniform 2-feet-thick, but in key areas, specifically above the service spaces where the height is reduced relative to the rest of the building, there can be as much as eight feet of earth to accommodate trees of varying height and size, such that the experience of being on this roof is much like being in a natural ground level park.
Certain rooms punch into and out of the roof, bringing light into the center of the building in interesting ways; When a room punches out, it brings light into that room, such is the case for the conference room, and when it punches in, such is the case for the washrooms, it brings light into the corridors.
While only being one storey in plan, the library contains eight different levels, each a difference of 14 inches in height.
Other than rooms that must explicitly be fully enclosed: a storage room, a conference room, washrooms -- the building is resolutely open plan, with each element of the program delineated by a seat-height change in elevation.
There is no one "reading room" -- the building is the reading room; A quiet, contemplative reading area above glassy water, a mini amphitheater for story time, seating which runs along the river for a hundred feet, one- and two-person tables inside and outside watching the river flow calmly in carpeted space. Open meeting "rooms" all along the back wall, some as high as 10 feet or more off the ground. Privacy, but without the need for walls.
The building is also accessible by ramp everywhere.
