The Timelessness of Libraries

 

Booked for the Evening 2023.

The Eugene Public Library Foundation’s premier annual fundraising event, Booked for the Evening, took place yesterday evening at the downtown Eugene Public Library. In past years, the soiree took place within conference facilities or large ballrooms, such as at the Graduate Eugene Hotel or the Valley River Inn. The Foundation chose the downtown Library itself as the venue for Booked 2023. The reason? It’s been 20 years since the downtown branch officially opened. To help celebrate this milestone, the Foundation thought it would be fitting for me, being one of the architects who designed the building, to discuss its architecture and speak to the Foundation’s vision of Building for Generations.
 
I’m not a comfortable public speaker. My mind races with self-doubt and I become hyper-aware of every stumble or mistake I make. Despite my preparation and practice, the nerves always seem to get the best of me.
 
For this occasion, I would not have a PowerPoint presentation as a crutch to lean on. The Foundation asked me for an extemporaneous speech, with anecdotes about our process and how the design concept took its shape. Despite my awkward nervousness, I think I pulled it off without totally embarrassing myself. I am happy to have been a featured speaker at Booked for the Evening 2023, but I’m glad the experience is now behind me.
 
Here’s the transcript of my speech:
 
Twenty years. It’s hard to believe the “new” Eugene Public Library is already two decades old. It’s an understatement for me to say I was privileged to be involved with the Library’s genesis, design, and construction as the design team’s project manager. You need to understand how impactful and meaningful the opportunity for an architect to contribute toward such a project is. Libraries are special places. This one is especially so to all of us.
 
Think about how much has changed in our world during the past twenty years. Smart phones and social media were not yet the bane of our existence in 2003. Social equity, climate change, and political division were not as front and center as they are now. Throughout it all, our public libraries have adapted. 

I’m not going to tell you about the way forward, about what I think the library of the future should be. So much about the future is unknowable. Instead, I’ll focus on the timelessness of libraries. I’ll explain to you why libraries are important architectural opportunities, and why this library was and is important to me.
 
Let’s start with this room. I’m happy we’re here, now. I can’t think of a more appropriate place for this celebration. Look around. Look at the room’s size, its windows, how it makes you feel. Think about it for a moment. Think about its counterpart at the other end of the building, the rotunda, and the other reading spaces. Think about the potential of the Library’s expansion to the fourth floor above us, under a grand, vaulted roof. Think about why good rooms are important in a library.

 
One of the great and influential American architects of the 20^th century was Louis Kahn. He said of the room: “The room is the beginning of architecture. It is the place of the mind. You in the room with its dimensions, its structure. Its light responds to its character, its spiritual aura, recognizing that whatever the human proposes and makes becomes a life.”
 
Kahn regarded the room as a place inhabited by the mind. He accommodated the realm of the intellect—learning, commemoration, and appreciation—in his innovative designs.
 
When our team—led by my firm, Robertson/Sherwood/Architects with SBRA Architecture (now Shepley Bulfinch) as our design partners—thought about what the new Eugene Public Library should be, we always envisioned it being an ordered collection of memorable spaces—of rooms. We wanted to create spaces that both welcomed and ennobled everyone who would come to use them.

Louis Kahn also believed that rooms should have a sense of monumentality and timelessness. He believed that architecture should be enduring and that a room should be designed to stand the test of time, both in terms of its physical durability and its ability to remain relevant and meaningful to its occupants.
 
A city needs its enduring monuments, so we also set out to design a building that would stand for many generations, immune to obsolescence. We didn’t want to design an architectural flash in the pan. We wanted to design a library that would never lose its broad appeal. Our senior partner, Jim Robertson, envisioned a building that would endure, one day being worthy of nomination for the National Register of Historic Places.
 
Another 20^th century architect I consider influential was Aldo Rossi. He argued that monuments should be understood as part of a larger urban context, and that their meaning and value should be seen in relation to the city's historical and cultural layers. He believed that monuments should be designed as part of a larger urban system, and that their design should reflect the city's collective memory and cultural identity. Rossi believed that architecture should be accessible to everyone and that it should contribute to the common good of society.
 
So, we designed with monumentality in mind, but at the same time we wanted the Library to offer a sense of community and belonging, foster social interaction, and promote lifelong learning and personal growth. We wanted it to provide a communal space outside of the home and workplace where anyone can engage in social, cultural, and educational activities—a so-called “third place.” We wanted it to help build social capital and create a sense of community. Our challenge was to achieve these goals by architectural means. 
 
Change is a constant in our lives. While our architecture should be mutable and adapt to change, we should also provide anchors in the form of memorable rooms, spaces, and monuments that moor us within the urban fabric and give us refuge from the stress of our daily lives.
 
A library building is important to the city for the reasons I’ve stated. If it is timeless in spirit and form, it will become a monument. It is also more likely to last much longer if people care about it and invest in its maintenance and modernization as necessary. I’m hopeful this building will survive and thrive well beyond my lifetime precisely because this community has been inspired by its architecture and values its timeless qualities.
 
I know all of you value everything the Eugene Public Library has to offer. On behalf of everyone who was involved with the design and construction of the main branch, thank you for your continued support and the opportunity to speak with you this evening—it’s been my honor.
 

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