Norman Foster to "Transform" New York Public Library

British architecture firm Foster + Partners has been selected to renovate the New York Public Library's Fifth Avenue Beaux-Arts building. Norman Foster, who married new with old at the British Museum in London and the Hearst Tower in NYC, told the NY Times, "It's the greatest project ever."

According the NYPL, Foster and his team will be tasked to "transform" the Humanities and Social Sciences Library into the "world's largest comprehensive library open to the public." The iconic building has been a research library for almost 40 years, but it will have "extensive circulating collections" and "expansive new reading rooms with open shelf circulating collections overlooking Bryant Park." The Times explains that the circulation library will be below the Rose Reading Room, where "seven levels of stacks and a basement" are currently located. The 1.25 million cubic feet of space will be "completely reconfigured...with new rooms for children and teenagers and numerous computer work stations." Yes, there will also be WiFi, meeting rooms, and even a cafe.

The NYPL, which is embarking on a $1.2 billion plan to overhaul the entire system, believes its visitors will triple to 3.5 million, when the project is completed by 2013, attracting "a diverse range of users, including young children, students, scholars, writers, entrepreneurs, and casual readers." And NYPL president Paul LeClerc said of picking Foster, "We had to have someone as good as Carrere & Hastings. We had to create a second masterpiece."

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By Jen Chung in News on October 23, 2008 11:16 AM

Comments [rss]

Kingpin

I hope this is one of his more sympathetic projects then some of the ones that are lauded, but in fact are abysmal. Foster is often overrated in the quality, and whilst some things he, or his company has produced have been excellent (the aforementioned British Museum renovation, and that bridge in France), not all of the stuff he's been behind has been great.

Spirit of 76

[3] The old CBS show 48 Hours (many years before it became 48 Hours Mystery) did one episode called "New York Underground." One of the segments showed the stacks under Bryant Park. They have all sorts of priceless although historically unusual things down there, like a small book handwritten by George Washington (it might have been a recipe book; I can't remember).

NannyState

^ I can't wait to see the designs!

snessnyc

Yes, thank you Nanny, I did of course mean the sublime British Museum rather than the banal Library. This project seems to be all interior, rather than the great courtyard that the Brit Museum had to work with, so the result might not be as spectacular but it is almost sure to elegant, innovative and still respectful of the Carrere & Hastings original. And to everyone thinking that this will never happen because of the financial meltdown, remember that many of our greatest public buildings and works were created during the Depression and its aftermath: much of the NYC parks system, the LaGuardia Marine Air Terminal, the great Brooklyn Central Library, dozens of branch libraries, hospitals, transportation terminals, etc. Also remember that the NYPL is an non-profit corporation, so it is not reliant upon municipal funds. The money will primarily be private fund-raising, much of which has already been acheived.

tsol

Anything new is guaranteed to suck donkey balls unless they re-animate the late Victorian architects and the Italian immigrant stonemasons who built most of the buildings in NY worth looking at.

jterry121

Considering the Financial Crisis & Construction recession, NYC will have no way of paying for this project (along with the trillion other projects being built) & Norman Foster & his team will go bankrupt.

gmpicket

If we didn't update from time to time, you might be still reading from books chained to shelves.

http://www.herefordcathedral.org/mappa_lib.asp

NannyState

^ I hope you meant the British Museum. The National Library is an architectural nightmare first conceived in the seventies and mired in so much red tape and delays that it finally opened thirty years later to a huge collective yawn. (Sir Norman Foster didn't design that one) The NYPL project can't be that inspiring since there's no courtyard to enclose with a stunning glass canopy or an open lot to be transformed into an architectural fantasy.

snessnyc

Why this knee-jerk reaction against the project? From the description, they will leave alone the areas that we all love and only work on those areas that the public currently has no access to - the stacks underneath the 3rd floor reading rooms. The NYPL is not only a great architectural landmark, but as one of the world's largest and greatest libraries this cultural landmark must be kept up-to-date. Foster is a great pick - he has already shown with the British Library that he has the sensitivity and expertise. This will be money well-spent.

aksia

what wrong with transforming the space to suit the needs of the coming 100years rather than the past 100years?

nothing.

let the renovation proceed! hip hip

Toby von Meistersinger

What is wrong with the classic space?

Nothing.

Kojak

Yes perhaps they should leave well enough alone, but given the amazing job Foster + Partners has done on other works as per their website, I doubt it will disappoint.

Jen Chung

@erik123--good idea, I'll see what I can find.

spiritross

I doubt the ghosts in the basement would appreciate this

erik123

Does anyone have pictures or a link to pictures of the NYPL storage space under Bryant Park? Is there also some sort of storage/bunker under Washington Square Park?

grove

agreed,don't touch it!

invest the money elsewhere.

nycviabos

The NYPL is a wonderful space as it is. This seems like some board members' folly.

I hope the Landmarks Comission puts a stop to such a waste. We already have hundreds of excellent lending libraries in the city.