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

  • Ancient Resilience: How Indigenous Intelligence Shapes the 4Roots Education Building

    As climate change intensifies, educational spaces must evolve beyond basic sustainability toward true resilience – we must design environments that can adapt, respond, and thrive amid shifting, and intensifying, climate hazards. Drawing on indigenous wisdom and nature-based strategies, integrating resilient design offers a path to create learning environments that are not only functional but deeply in tune with their natural surroundings.

  • Image courtesy of MiEN Company

    6 Ways to Pull Off a Major District Construction Project

    Designing and building a large-scale project on a K–12 campus is a monumental undertaking that requires the right blend of ideas, funding, design and execution to get it right. The process also relies on multiple partners, each of which has to handle its respective aspect of the project while also keeping the district’s broader mission and goals in mind.

  • New Jersey PreK–12 School Breaks Ground on New STEM Building

    Saddle River Day School (SRDS) in Saddle River, N.J., recently announced that it has broken ground on the new Dr. Kristen Walsh Hall of Science & Entrepreneurship, according to a news release. The school partnered with DIGroup Architecture for the design of the new facility, which will provide the school with space to expand its STEM and business education classes.

  • California District Starts Construction on New Robotics Facility

    The Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD) near Silicon Valley, Calif., recently announced that construction has begun on a new Robotics Facility on the campus of Cupertino High School, according to a news release. The 14,500-square-foot facility will serve students at high schools across the entire district, providing purpose-built spaces for student creativity and collaboration.

Digital Edition