Georgia Tech Library

After years of planning and construction, the renewed Georgia Tech Library opened its doors to students and faculty in the Spring of 2019 with a completely renovated and retooled Crosland Tower building. The Crosland Tower facility represents the first phase of what is ultimately a $64 million transformational project including the renovation of 230,000 square feet across two library buildings. Originally constructed in 1968, Crosland Tower has been transformed from a nearly windowless facility designed solely for books into a brightly-lit state-of-the-art collaborative research environment. This programmatic transformation was made possible by the removal of existing brick walls on the north and south facades and replacing them with high-performance glazed curtain walls featuring integrated external sunshades optimized to improve energy performance, to reduce glare and to harvest natural daylight and direct it toward the center of the floor plate. In addition, large new floor openings were created to establish atrium spaces and double-height reading rooms. The ground level of the facility has been completely transformed, with multiple points of entry and generous glazed curtain walls that reveal library activity to the surrounding campus. Possibly the most dramatic transformations occur at the top level of the building, where students can study in a newly created Reading Room and outdoor terrace featuring some of the best skyline views in the entire city. One aspect of this project that we’re most proud of is that while the Library’s seat count will be doubled as a result of the renovations, the building’s energy consumption will be reduced by more than sixty percent.

The second phase of this project is currently under construction and will include the transformation of the iconic Price Gilbert Memorial Library building, originally designed in 1953 by the Atlanta architect P. M. Heffernan. The building is an excellent example of mid-twentieth century international style architecture, and our design will retain and restore the existing architectural character of the original design while incorporating high-performance materials, assemblies, and systems. Construction for the Price Gilbert building will be completed in the spring of 2020.