May 20, 2009
Gehry at Princeton: New Science Library for New Learning
Ron McCoy
University Architect, Princeton
Minutes of the 32nd Meeting of the 67th Year
At 10:15 AM at the Fields Center, President George Hansen called to order the 32nd meeting of the 67th year of the Old Guard of Princeton, following a hospitality hour. Don Edwards led us in the invocation. The minutes of the May 13th meeting were read by Harvey Rothberg. President Hansen asked the many guests at this last regular meeting to stand and be recognized simultaneously. Three nominees for membership were: Judith Applegate, introduced by Juliana McIntyre; Frank Henschel, introduced by Bob Waltman; and Patricia Marks, introduced by Claire Jacobus. Approximately 100 members and guests were in attendance. Officers John Frederick and Robert Thompson and Committee Chair Charles Stennard were recognized for their “several years of service” as they turned over their responsibilities. Charles Stennard received a blazer patch, the other two men already having received patches. President Hansen announced that the 17th meeting of the 67th year will be held next week in the Friends Center. The speaker will be Jerome Silbergeld, Princeton Professor of Chinese Art, speaking on the current Princeton Art Museum Exhibit, “Outside In: Chinese x American x Contemporary Art.”
President Hansen asked for a moment of silence in memory of Emeritus Member John McLoughlin. Scott McVey introduced our speaker: Ron McCoy, Princeton University Architect, who, Scott said, while playing with a deck of cards at age 7, decided to become an architect, or so he announced to his mother. Graduating from the University of Southern California with a BS in Architecture, McCoy particularly admired Frank Gehry, Robert Venturi, and Michael Graves, the latter being a major reason why McCoy came to Princeton for his Masters in Architecture. Just prior to becoming University Architect at Princeton, he served as University Architect for Arizona State, where he oversaw 6 million square feet of new construction, including a new downtown Phoenix campus.
The topic of McCoy’s presentation was “The Lewis Science Library: a New Space for New Learning.” He told of a speech he gave two nights before in New Caanan with alums, discussing future plans for the university. The first question from his audience was “Can you help me understand why I should like the exterior of the new Lewis library?” Asserting that although he would not try to convince his Old Guard audience to like the building, he would put the building in context, hopefully explain how rich and varied that context is, and how Gehry advances the discipline of architecture.
Addressing the “new learning” part of his title, our speaker spoke of spaces providing opportunities for collaborative learning across and among several disciplines. If you’ve visited the building and at least 4 of its 6 floors, the wide variety of such study spaces is immediately apparent.
The bulk of the program was fundamentally a series of magnificent slides covering many aspects of Gehry’s work and thought. Unfortunately, I have no slides. However, the basic topics included:
Finally, at 11:15 AM, our speaker showed slides of the interior of the 89,000 sq. ft. Lewis Science Library. The four space components are: the open public spaces, the reading rooms, the group study spaces and the service towers. He referred to the structure as street and village spaces, highlighting the vistas from many parts of all 4 above-ground floors. Particularly enticing was the 2nd floor “tree house” reading room with its dappled light, full of students on weekends as well as during the week. The sense of light is magnificent. Some might feel a sense of casual, asymmetrical disorganization, McCoy said, telling of an architect who, when visiting the building exterior, turned to Gehry and murmured: “How do you know when you’ve made a mistake?” Actually the stainless steel skin exterior sections indicate study rooms, the service towers are brick, and the glass sections are for reading rooms. The selection of the colors on walls, furniture and exterior sections are anything but random.
Ending with a quote from John Gardiner, in part that “art reminds us of the magic of our humanness,” McCoy answered questions about construction difficulties, books the library contained, uniqueness, and collaboration.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynn Livingston
President Hansen asked for a moment of silence in memory of Emeritus Member John McLoughlin. Scott McVey introduced our speaker: Ron McCoy, Princeton University Architect, who, Scott said, while playing with a deck of cards at age 7, decided to become an architect, or so he announced to his mother. Graduating from the University of Southern California with a BS in Architecture, McCoy particularly admired Frank Gehry, Robert Venturi, and Michael Graves, the latter being a major reason why McCoy came to Princeton for his Masters in Architecture. Just prior to becoming University Architect at Princeton, he served as University Architect for Arizona State, where he oversaw 6 million square feet of new construction, including a new downtown Phoenix campus.
The topic of McCoy’s presentation was “The Lewis Science Library: a New Space for New Learning.” He told of a speech he gave two nights before in New Caanan with alums, discussing future plans for the university. The first question from his audience was “Can you help me understand why I should like the exterior of the new Lewis library?” Asserting that although he would not try to convince his Old Guard audience to like the building, he would put the building in context, hopefully explain how rich and varied that context is, and how Gehry advances the discipline of architecture.
Addressing the “new learning” part of his title, our speaker spoke of spaces providing opportunities for collaborative learning across and among several disciplines. If you’ve visited the building and at least 4 of its 6 floors, the wide variety of such study spaces is immediately apparent.
The bulk of the program was fundamentally a series of magnificent slides covering many aspects of Gehry’s work and thought. Unfortunately, I have no slides. However, the basic topics included:
- a brief history of libraries regarding space (from Palladio and the Bibliotheque Nationale to the 1948 Firestone Library and the new Lewis Science Library)
- a discussion of Frank Gehry’s 25-year relationship with Peter Lewis.
- some concepts of space architecturally, informed by two diagrams , the one on the left of classical space as poured liquid, fixed, permanent, vertical; the one on the right, horizontal, a series of constructed planes, minimum vertical support. Each concept is a fundamentally different view and use of space.
- Enumeration of some of the influences on Frank Gehry’s work, including most especially the modern Scandinavian villages of Alvar Aalto, the neo-expressionism of Eero Saarinen; and the expressionism of Hugo Haring and Hans Scharoun, (Germany)
Finally, at 11:15 AM, our speaker showed slides of the interior of the 89,000 sq. ft. Lewis Science Library. The four space components are: the open public spaces, the reading rooms, the group study spaces and the service towers. He referred to the structure as street and village spaces, highlighting the vistas from many parts of all 4 above-ground floors. Particularly enticing was the 2nd floor “tree house” reading room with its dappled light, full of students on weekends as well as during the week. The sense of light is magnificent. Some might feel a sense of casual, asymmetrical disorganization, McCoy said, telling of an architect who, when visiting the building exterior, turned to Gehry and murmured: “How do you know when you’ve made a mistake?” Actually the stainless steel skin exterior sections indicate study rooms, the service towers are brick, and the glass sections are for reading rooms. The selection of the colors on walls, furniture and exterior sections are anything but random.
Ending with a quote from John Gardiner, in part that “art reminds us of the magic of our humanness,” McCoy answered questions about construction difficulties, books the library contained, uniqueness, and collaboration.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynn Livingston