U. of Chicago's Daring New Library

The University of Chicago (UC) last month unveiled a plan to build a mostly underground, state-of-the-art new library on campus, bucking the trend to off-campus storage. The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library will be named for the chair and CEO of Chicago-based investment research firm Morningstar, Inc., and his wife, in recognition of their $25 million donation.

The library, designed by Chicago-based architect Helmut Jahn and the seventh on the UC campus, will be topped with a 35'-high glass dome at ground level. It will have storage capacity for 3.5 million volumes of print material, as well as a conservation and preservation facility, a special collection service area, and a grand reading room. The library will use a high-density, automated shelving system. Construction will begin this summer; an opening is scheduled for fall 2010.

When the project was first announced in 2005, as a $42 million expansion, the UC administration cited a student poll that suggested there was “no real evidence of substitution” for physical library space and services with electronic alternatives. Andrew Abbott, chair of the library task force, said that the survey found the use of information resources appeared to be “synergistic.”

Jahn's design has already provoked discussion. “It's not hard to imagine the names that students are going to pin on this building. How about the Flamingo Dome, the UFO, or the Terrarium?” quipped Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin. “Helmut Jahn is either daring or he's crazy.”