Phillips Exeter Academy Library is the library of Phillips Exeter Academy, an independent boarding school in Exeter, New Hampshire, and is the largest secondary school library in the world, holding 160,000 volumes over nine levels with a shelf capacity of 250,000 volumes. When the school's earlier library outgrew its building in the 1950s, the commission for a new library with a contemporary design was given to the architect Louis Kahn in 1965, and the building opened in 1971, later receiving the American Institute of Architects Twenty-five Year Award in 1997. Kahn structured the library in three concentric square rings: an outer ring of load-bearing brick holding the exterior walls and reading carrels, a middle ring of reinforced concrete holding the book stacks, and an inner ring forming a dramatic atrium with enormous circular openings revealing several floors of stacks.
Facts
Year Created LocationExeter, New Hampshire, United States 1 Primary MaterialLoad-bearing brick and reinforced concrete 1 Building Type Connections
Created By
Source Phillips Exeter Academy Library, Wikipedia
In Form
Source Phillips Exeter Academy Library, Wikipedia
In Genre
In the Other Atlases
Same As
Also in Architecture and Design Atlas: the same subject.
Located In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.
Source Phillips Exeter Academy Library, WikipediaLead sentence 1Quote, Lead sentence 1
Phillips Exeter Academy Library is a library that serves Phillips Exeter Academy, an independent boarding school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, United States.
Sources
1. Phillips Exeter Academy Library, Wikipedia
Lead paragraph 1, sentence 1
an independent boarding school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, United States.
Lead paragraph 2, sentence 3
The library opened in 1971.
Lead paragraph 3, sentences 2-3
The outer ring, which is built of load-bearing brick, includes all four exterior walls and the library carrel desks immediately inside them. The middle ring, which is built of reinforced concrete, holds the heavy book stacks.
Lead paragraph 1, sentence 1 (type)
is a library that serves Phillips Exeter Academy
Lead section
When it became clear in the 1950s that the library had outgrown its existing building, the school initially hired an architect who proposed a traditional design for the new building.
Created By: Louis Kahn, Infobox: architect
Louis Kahn
In Form: Architecture, Lead sentence
Phillips Exeter Academy Library is a library that serves Phillips Exeter Academy, an independent boarding school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, United States.
In Group: Schools, Libraries and Research Institutes, Lead
Phillips Exeter Academy Library is a library that serves Phillips Exeter Academy, an independent boarding school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, United States.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.