Sweet Briar College Cochran Library

Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

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Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

Campus Plan + Historic Significance

Designed in 1927 by the Boston architectural firm of Cram and Ferguson, Cochran Library has served as Sweet Briar College’s main campus library since opening in 1929. One of the first buildings constructed as part of Ralph Adams Cram’s 1927 campus master plan, the flat-roofed library – with its engaged Corinthian pilasters and highly ornate detailing – is a visual highlight, in part because of its arresting contrast with the rest of the campus’ Georgian Revival style of hip-roofed buildings.

Completed over a decade-long collaboration, the addition and renovation of Cochran Library strives to complement and preserve a library held in high esteem by a strong alumnae base while also propelling the College into the evolving landscape of learning space design.

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Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

Creating A New Heart of Campus Life

Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

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Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

Site Strategy

Situated prominently on a ridge at the center of campus, the library exerts a commanding presence in the landscape. The main building’s primary 2 story façade fronts a formal quadrangle and benefits from stunning views to the pastoral Virginia countryside to the south. On the north, the library stands four stories tall and looks out to the rugged Blue Ridge Mountains. The sloping site allows the addition to wrap the historic core with a building carefully configured to preserve/restore views to the 1929 library. By developing the north and west sides of the original building, the design minimizes the addition’s visual impact from the main quadrangle while signaling a new presence along the entry drive. A gracefully curving stone terrace merges building with site and helps mark a new entry into the historic heart of the college. The modern addition employs traditional materials featured in the library and the surrounding campus context – including cast stone masonry, slate, brick, and copper – ensuring that the modern design fits comfortably alongside the restrained palette of local materials.

Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

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Entry Drive N

Addition

Terrace

Cochran

Accessible Parking + Path to Entry

Flecther

Main Quadrangle

Benedict

Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

Design Approach

Respecting Cram’s original vision for the library, the project strategically locates new building program around the original core of the structure while preserving its historically significant elevations and major public spaces. “Liberating” the library from a cramped 1965 addition to the north that buried much of Cram’s design, the project reinvigorates sight lines to campus, enhances daylighting, and reveals previously hidden architectural features while improving the building’s ability to perform as a 21st century library.

Behind the historic main façade, a long-closed vaulted gallery has been reopened as a 24-hour study area with student art adorning the arcade’s niches. Once buried and in some parts damaged by the 1965 addition, the historic north elevation has been carefully rehabilitated and reintroduced to the campus through the addition’s large north facing window. Prominently featured beneath an expansive new skylight and standing an uninterrupted four stories as originally intended, the north wall features subtle steel inserts to distinguish where new openings have been introduced – a feature used throughout the building to signal a similar convergence of old and new. A new monumental stair cascades down alongside the historic exterior wall, improving building-wide circulation while also reconnecting users to this long-obscured architectural treasure.

The first building on campus to experiment with a more modern take on material and detailing, the addition makes a clear statement about Sweet Briar’s future-focused aim of staying relevant and supportive of students’ academic aims. Whereas the addition reflects the original materiality of brick and wood in the library’s interior, it uses brick, slate, copper and glass on the exterior to communicate Sweet Briar’s commitment to forward-looking 21st century learning.

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Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

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Level 2

LEVEL 2

SCALE: 1/16" = 1'-0"

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Level 1

LEVEL 1

SCALE: 1/16" = 1'-0"

Admin / Support Library Utility / Circulation Open Gathering Group Learning

Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

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Level M

LEVEL M

SCALE: 1/16" = 1'-0"

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1

Level 0

LEVEL 0 1 Technical Services SCALE: 1/16" = 1'-0"

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Cochran Reading Room

11 Classroom

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Media Lab

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Gallery

12 Special Collections Reading Room

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Learning Commons

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Seminar Room

13 Special Collections

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Cafe

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Learning Studio

14 Group Study

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Intergrated Service Point

10 Academic Resource Center

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Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

Supporting 21st Century Learning

A mix of learning spaces helps to create a commodious environment for a range of academic and social activities. The traditional reading room at the heart of the Cram building has been carefully updated to provide the latest in lighting and environmental control while maintaining the original architectural character of the space. The two large Learning Commons that make up the majority of the new addition are furnished with a range of soft seating options that can be configured to suit both individual and group use. Group study rooms, with writable wall surfaces and ample natural lighting, have become some of the more popular spaces on campus. Whether they are hosting teams of students working on group projects or are providing quiet study space for one or two, the group study spaces teem with activity day and night. A new 30 person active learning classroom on the second floor provides instructors and students with cutting edge teaching tools in a flexible setting. Rounding out the complement of learning spaces are the various computing resources throughout the building, from public computers and building-wide wifi to a dedicated computer lab with state of the art hardware and a full range of software platforms.

The Library is also home to the Academic Resource Center, a program that provides tutoring and academic support to any student requesting it. A series of small conference rooms provide space for mentors and small groups of students to meet and review core concepts, discuss ways to improve study techniques and retention. An ARC staff person is stationed to help schedule meeting times, reserve rooms and serve as technical support for the technologically-rich rooms.

Building on the successes of the Library as an academic hub on campus, the College has also begun using the building for various social events on campus. A number of large gatherings have taken place in the traditional reading room and the learning commons, and many seminars and events use the classrooms to full benefit. A new outdoor terrace and adjacent cafĂŠ expand the range of events the building can accommodate and reinforce the central role the library plays in the community at large.

Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

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Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

Academic & Student Life Crossroads

Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

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Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

Housing the Collection

Not wanting to sacrifice the library’s capacity to provide easy access to a range of prominent physical resources, Sweet Briar made the decision to house the majority of their growing collection on site – a challenging proposition given their desire to simultaneously expand user space. The solution was to employ a series of high-density shelving units which double the storage capacity of traditional shelving units. Those items infrequently circulated across campus live in compact shelving units in the new addition, while the most popular items are housed in the renovated main library’s browsable stacks. The net increase in student space supports the library’s role as a student destination offering a range of learning environments that further students’ academic and social aims.

Sweet Briar’s acclaimed special collections are a prominent feature of the library’s holdings. A carefully designed special collections room on a lower level of the new addition houses a variety of historically significant items in lockable high density units. With the assistance of library staff, students and visitors can access nearly 12,000 artifacts in a surprisingly small vault space. A dedicated mechanical unit ensures the valuable assets housed within the collection stay at acceptable levels of temperature and humidity.

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Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

Student Centered Design

The new addition endeavors to re-situate Cochran Library as an intellectual crossroads and major student destination on campus. The expanded library program includes collaborative group meeting rooms, a seminar-style classroom, two open learning commons, and a glass-wrapped study and café area which opens to an outdoor terrace. Customizable study spaces and program areas with flexible furniture support a variety of creative endeavors and scales of collaboration. Wireless technology, writable walls, and a hyper-wired scholar collaboration room enable tech-fueled discovery – complementing the more traditional browsing and reading areas found in the library’s carefully restored spaces.

Cochran Library Sweet Briar College

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VMDO Architects vmdo.com | 434.296.5684 200 E Market St Charlottesville, VA 22902 1200 18th Street NW Suite 700 Washington, DC 20036

For more information on Higher Education work please contact:

For more information on Library work please contact:

David Oakland, FAIA, LEED AP oakland@vmdo.com

Jim Kovach kovach@vmdo.com

Joe Atkins, AIA, LEED AP BD+C atkins@vmdo.com