LangsdaleLink Vol. 14 No. 1 SPRING 2014
UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE LANGSDALE LIBRARY
New Look for Langsdale by Adam Shutz
I
HTTP://LANGSDALE.UBALT.EDU
t’s finally happening: Langsdale is getting a facelift. With the University of Baltimore becoming, bit by bit, a modern and glittering campus—see the bright, glass hive of the John and Frances Angelos Law Center, the sloped and swirling geometry of the Student Center—Langsdale was beginning to feel a bit like an old (but comfortable!) shoe. Now, all that is about to change. On Wednesday, Jan. 15, six architectural firms presented their designs for the renovation and remodeling of Langsdale Library. On Jan. 31, Behnisch Architekten of Boston was selected.
EDITORIAL STAFF NATALIE BURCLAFF ADELE MARLEY DELORES REDMAN AIDEN FAUST EDITOR; LAYOUT AND DESIGN ADAM SHUTZ LIBRARY DIRECTOR LUCY HOLMAN
As expected, many of the firms focused on the library as a space of learning and collaboration, one brimming with new technology and spaces adaptable to a variety of needs. This is a long way from the old way of thinking of libraries as giant book warehouses, which predominated the philosophies of both architects and librarians alike. Those days are dead and gone. The day now before us is full of color and light, glass and open floorplans—in a word, spaces designed more for people than for books. Concepts of airy, collaborative spaces were featured in one way or another in each of the design proposals presented at the contest. Ground was broken for the original Langsdale Library on April 7, 1965, to accommodate both a growing collection of books and a growing student body. The building as evinced today was designed in the brutalist style (which, believe it or not, was en vogue at the time of construction) by local architect Henry Powell Hopkins. Aside from the façade of the building looking progressively dated over time, the “bones” (as many of the architects at the competition called them) are in good shape. For this rea(continued on page 8)