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

  • Northeastern University Breaks Ground on New Housing Community

    Northeastern University recently announced the groundbreaking of a new student housing community on its campus in Boston, Mass., according to a news release. The university is partnering with American Campus Communities (ACC) for development of the project, which will have the capacity for 1,200 students and has a scheduled completion date of fall 2028.

  • Wold Architects & Engineers Acquires VPS Architecture

    Full-service planning, architecture, and engineering firm Wold Architects & Engineers recently announced that it has acquired VPS Architecture, according to a news release. The move will help strengthen Wold’s education and public-sector design expertise, industries in which both companies have strong pre-existing ties and relationships.

  • Hawaii Elementary School Breaks Ground on New Classroom Building

    Kealakehe Elementary School in Kailua, Hawaii, recently began construction on a new, $16-million classroom building for its campus, according to a news release. The 13,000-square-foot building will stand two stories and connect the existing upper and lower campuses.

  • California School District Completes Elementary School Modernization

    The San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting for a whole-site modernization of Pacific Beach Elementary School, according to local news. The school first opened with one building in 1930 and added six more between 1938 and 1957.