The William Smith Morton Library at Union Presbyterian Seminary was created from the shell of Shauffler Hall, a castellated, Gothic-revival, 1930s church structure on the campus. Neo-Gothic architecture ties all of the buildings on this small campus together. Challenges included fusing new and old into a unified whole with a dramatic four-story atrium; cloaking new and flexible technologies in comfortable and well-appointed reading rooms and study spaces; and creating a new scholastic center for the campus.
Although the Seminary preserves the historical character of Shauffler Hall, the 1919 chapel it transformed into Morton Library, it made needed changes to create a state-of-the-art information center. To accommodate the new library, the existing building was transformed into a larger structure encircling a light-filled atrium naturally lit by groin-vaulted louvers. The building has four levels and houses general collections, a variety of open and private study areas, a media resources library for audio and video collections, computerized automation areas, a children’s library, and technical and administrative offices.
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