Phillips Exeter Academy Library

Louis Kahn – Phillips Exeter Academy Library, New Hampshire USA, 1965-1971

Phillips Exeter Academy Library is a library that serves Phillips Exeter Academy, an independent boarding school located in Exeter, New Hampshire. It is the largest secondary school library in the world, containing 160.000 volumes on nine levels with a shelf capacity of 250.000 volumes. 
When it became clear in the 50s that the library had outgrown its existing building, the school initially hired an architect who proposed a traditional design for the new building. Deciding instead to build a library with a contemporary design, the school awarded the commission to Louis Kahn in 1965. The library opened in 1971.
The library is almost cubic in shape: each of its four sides is 33 meters wide and 24 meters high. It is built in three concentric areas (which Kahn calls "donuts"). In the words of Robert McCarter, author of Louis I. Kahn, "From the beginning of the design process, Kahn conceived of the three types of spaces as if they were three buildings constructed of different materials and of different scales - buildings-within-buildings." The outer area, which houses the reading rooms, is made of brick. The middle area, which holds the heavy stacks of books, is made of reinforced concrete.
The internal area is an atrium.