Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

The City University of New York: Medgar Evers College Library

  • 06/01/15

Set within the existing 1980 Bedford Building of Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, NY, a renovation designed by Ikon.5 Architects remade the building’s drab entrance with an open glass façade, and includes a new 2,000-square-foot Welcome Center and a café with an electronic media display. The renewal transforms 45,000 square feet of existing traditional library space into a modern information commons.

The City University of New York: Medgar Evers College Library

PHOTOS © JEFFREY TOTARO and © JAMES D’ADDIO

Treating each interior surface as a bright, reflective page, the former dark and shadowy space is now a bright and airy learning environment, taking advantage of an existing glass wall to admit light deep within the building. Natural light enters the three-story space from north-facing windows and an overhead skylight. This opening increases the legibility of the space and the building’s clarity by allowing visitors to see the various program functions of the library at entry. The result is a light-filled, inspiring information commons with adjacent study and classroom spaces. A new sculptural staircase physically and visually links all three levels.

The glass pavilion of the Welcome Center transforms the defensive and unwelcoming character of the existing building into an open and inviting expression to the adjacent community.

The renovation incorporates a number of sustainable features to reduce energy consumption and improve interior environmental quality. The north-facing glass wall permits diffused natural light to enter, and a photo-optic dimming system monitors light levels and keeps artificial lights off for most of the daylight hours. All enclosed rooms have glass partitions oriented toward the information commons to borrow natural daylight throughout all spaces of the building. A reflective roof reduces heat gain, and a new high-performance HVAC system vastly improves energy consumption. Recyclable backed carpet, bamboo wood flooring and paneling, low-VOC paints and LED lighting are used throughout with the goal of improving the quality of the interior environment.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Rowan University, HPE Partner on New Learning Initiative

    Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., recently announced that it has expanded its partnership with enterprise technology provider HPE to improve research capabilities and hands-on learning opportunities, according to a news release.

  • Dallas ISD Voters Approve $6.2B Bond Package

    Dallas ISD voters have approved a record-setting $6.2-billion bond package that district leaders say will modernize aging campuses, eliminate portable classrooms and reshape learning environments across one of the nation’s largest school systems.

  • New Arizona Fine Arts School Reaches Construction Milestone

    Construction of the new Hilltop School for the Arts and Theater in Litchfield Park, Ariz., recently hit a significant milestone, according to a news release. The Agua Fria High School District held a beam-signing ceremony to celebrate the building’s topping out, or the placement of its last structural beam.

  • Arlington High School

    Arlington High School

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. Arlington High School has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of New Construction.