Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Kenyon College Building New Library

  • 10/09/19

GAMBIER, OH – September 10 marked an occasion to celebrate in the construction of the new library at Kenyon College, designed by GUND Partnership. The entire campus community and design and construction teams were invited to sign a structural steel beam painted Kenyon’s signature purple. The beam signing was followed with a ceremony to mark the topping off of the library. Kenyon President Sean Decatur officiated the ceremony and unveiled the building’s new name, a name that is borrowed from the past: Chalmers Library. After the name was announced, spectators watched as Smoot Construction hoisted the purple beam to the top of the new library. Construction will be complete by the end of 2020, with an opening planned for spring 2021.

Kenyon College Library 500

Chalmers Library replaces Kenyon’s existing Olin and Chalmers libraries, which were not optimized for 21st-century learning and were at their physical limits. The new library is expecting LEED Gold certification and presents one of the largest opportunities to reduce Kenyon’s carbon footprint through signification energy savings. The new highly flexible state-of-the-art library will support active and collaborative learning and will feature a variety of environments to encourage student growth, curiosity, and exploration. Academic Advising, Career Development, the Registrar, and Student Accessibility Services will move to the library as an integrated hub connecting work inside the classroom with work outside of it.

The original Chalmers Memorial Library opened in 1962 and was named for Gordon Keith Chalmers, Kenyon’s 13th president, who served from 1937 until his death in 1956. The new Chalmers library will also recognize his wife, Roberta Teale Swartz Chalmers H’60, a poet, teacher, and co-founder of the Kenyon Review.

Featured

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • RIT Saunders College of Business – Lowenthal Hall Addition

    RIT Saunders College of Business – Lowenthal Hall Addition

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. RIT Saunders College of Business's Lowenthal Hall Addition has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • Embry-Riddle Completes Construction on Research, Lab Facility

    Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach, Fla., recently announced the end of construction on a new research and lab facility on campus. The Center for Aerospace Engineering II (CAT II) will support aerospace research and technology development and broke ground last summer.

  • California Middle School Breaks Ground on Major Renovation Project

    The Hillsborough City School District (HCSD) in Hillsborough, Calif., recently began construction on new multipurpose and administration facilities for Crocker Middle School, according to a news release.