Phillips Exeter Library (Library Design, 2)

It’s time for the second installment of the Library Design series here at the Dean files, and today we are looking at the Phillips Exeter Academy Library located in Exeter, New Hampshire

This library is designed to hold 250,000 volumes, and it currently houses approximately 162,000 volumes making it the second largest secondary school library in the world. The architect for the library was Louis Kahn. In designing this library, much like he did at the Salk Institute, Kahn thought about the idea in the terms of the medieval monastic library, with its individual areas for each of the scholars. This resulted in the study carrels in the library, which are very cell-like. He also remarked that “A man with a book goes to the light. A library begins that way. He will not go fifty feet away to an electric light.” And finally, his third key concept for the library was that the person in the library should know the purpose of the building, through the presentation of the books. These three concepts united represent the key design elements of the Exeter library. Let’s look at some photos!



Here is the library In Situ on the Exeter campus. Notice all the windows - lots of natural light.



And here is the interior of the great hall - the central space of the library. Kahn wanted to ensure that people in the building knew the purpose of the building - books. Also, you can see all the way through one side to the other.



These are two views of the study carrels. Notice the window shades that the user can interact with to control the amount of natural light they need.



Here is another group study area.

Overall, this is a great library design due to the plentiful amounts of natural light for users, but the books are protected from the sun. Also, the study carrels are great, but there are also “learning commons areas” a concept key in this library, and a bit ahead of its time.


Sources: flickr users kathia shieh, yan.da and Hendrixson

McCarter, R. (2005). Louis I Kahn.