Pfeiffer Partners has planned and programmed the renovation and expansion to the A.A. Lemieux Library at Seattle University. The 80,000-square-foot steel, concrete and marble Lemieux Library, constructed in 1966, is the University’s main library, servicing its 6,000 students and 480 faculty, in addition to the surrounding community.
The project, which fully renovates the existing building and creates a new 40,000-square-foot "front door" addition, brings the Library into the 21st century as the renewed academic heart of the campus. Extensive interviews and workshops with a wide spectrum of the campus community developed a visionary program which includes:
• Media Center and Screening Rooms
• Instructional Design Center/Multi-media Development
• 24/7 Zone with Café
• Center for Student Success
• Technology Training Center
• Information Commons
• Group Study Space and Several New Reading Rooms
• Popular/new books area
• 80-seat auditorium
The project was designed sustainably, and was approved for LEED Gold certification. Pfeiffer Partners worked closely with the University librarian, library staff, faculty, administrators, and academic support staff to define goals and priorities at each stage of the project. In addition to the learning commons spaces, the expanded library accommodates over 1,100 seats and space for over 380,000 volumes to support the 15-year acquisition growth rate of the library. The three-story addition also provides a new opportunity to link the library with the adjacent student union and campus green and to connect with the academic center of the campus, creating a defined student precinct. Pulling the new addition away from the existing building along the with the insertion of a glass link allows the original east facade to seamlessly slip into the interior of the new 3-story addition. Its subtle brick and frit patterns, successfully create a complementary aesthetic to other adjacent buildings.
The design creates a plaza, terraced ampitheatre, meditation lawn, rain garden and bioswale, and establishes a heart to the social precinct of the campus with the library and learning center as the front door.
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