Hayden Library Reinvention Wins 2021 AIA COTE Top Ten

The design team and university community shared a vision that Hayden Library needed to transform from a warehouse of books into a place for people while simultaneously celebrating the building’s historic legacy. Located in the heart of campus, Hayden Library anchors two highly utilized pedestrian malls. The new exterior design creates a ground-level plaza to reconnect the tower to campus and reinforces pedestrian connections with double-height glazing and new interior slab openings that create both visual and physical connections. The decision to retain nearly all the existing structural and building envelope elements was born of the desire for historic preservation and maintained the embodied carbon of these enduring assets. Existing granite panels and stained glass are salvaged and reused in the project to elevate their contribution to the building’s architectural experience. Precise restoration and renovation of all existing stairs and guardrails honor the iconic existing building while showcasing new and future uses and details.