Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
September 25, 2008
Pg. B6
By Marc Santora
WEST POINT, N.Y. — As Brig. Gen. Patrick Finnegan stood on the sixth-floor terrace of the new library on the campus of the United States Military Academy here, he was able to take in the full sweep of the institution’s history.
Just beyond the parade ground, where a towering bronze statue of Dwight D. Eisenhower looks over the expanse of lawn known as the Plain, the Hudson River narrows as it turns to the south. At the bend stand the original fortifications built to halt any advance of the British toward New York City.
“Looking out on the whole vista, you can say to a student, ‘This is why West Point was built,’” the general said.
But it has been a long time since fortifications and artillery alone could win wars, and West Point has [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]been[/FONT] moving to keep pace and adapt. The new library, dedicated on Wednesday as Thomas Jefferson Hall, is meant to show a commitment to modernization.
The library was completed after more than 10 years of planning and construction at a cost of $65 million, and it took a hard fight to get the funds at a time when the military is fighting expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“From the beginning, there were some in the Army who questioned the need” for a new library, said General Finnegan, the academy’s dean, in an interview before the dedication. Those doubters suggested that all the modern technical information a cadet might need was available online. “They said: ‘You already have a library. Students can just go on Google and get what they need.’”
After securing the funds, Army officials, members of Congress and graduates scrutinized the project, down to the decision to put a coffee shop in the library, the general said.
“People said, ‘You are going to let them drink coffee?’” he recalled. “‘That was not done when I was there.’”
Balancing tradition with the future was a constant struggle.
The six-story building itself — located on the compact central campus, distinguished by its nearly uniform Gothic-influenced stone buildings — attempts to nod at the past while still appearing modern. Most striking is its use of glass, including 8,000 glass bricks that form a glass curtain on the north side.
“No other building on the campus has a glass wall,” said Price Jepsen, an architect with the New York office of STV Group Inc., which worked with Holzman Moss Architecture on the project.
Yet the library, at 148,000 square feet, manages not to seem distinct from the rest of the campus, which has not had any new academic construction in 36 years. Working with state preservationists, the architects included many details, large and small, to tie the library to its surroundings. More than 1,500 tons of granite were brought in from a quarry in New Hampshire that had also provided stone for buildings constructed in the 1960s.
From the flattened archways to the limestone encasements for the windows, many of the West Point signatures remain unchanged. The lampposts on the new library draw their shape from the two cannons that mark the entrance to the old library, which stands directly opposite and is to become a science building. The cannons, known as Alpha and Omega, are said to have fired the first and last artillery shots of the Civil War.
Inside the library — which has 19 miles of shelves to house one million books — the color palette was chosen to complement the cadets’ black and gray uniforms. Graphic abstractions of military symbols, including medals and missiles, were added throughout.
The design was also influenced by aspects of student life. For instance, cadets are not allowed to use elevators, so great attention was paid to creating a staircase that would be a showcase.
“Structurally and architecturally, the stairs were extremely difficult,” Mr. Jepsen said. The result is a six-story open staircase that spirals to the top floor.
Bryn Geffert, the new librarian and a history professor, said the open design enhanced the way students like to study today.
“This is an incredibly social generation,” he said. “Even students doing solitary work like to be engaged in solitary work around other students.”
It is a far different world than when the academy’s first library was built in 1841. Then, fiction and material unrelated to coursework could be checked out only on Saturday and had to be returned on Monday.
There are few carrels in the new building. The book stacks are on either side of the central atrium, which is outfitted with computer stations, tables and couches. On the wings of each floor, beyond the stacks, lounge chairs line the windows, which look onto panoramic views.
The structured days of cadets also provided another challenge for the designers. Classes begin at 7:30 a.m. and do not end until almost 5. At lunchtime, 4,400 students line up near the parade ground and file in unison into the dining hall, eating in 20 minutes and returning to class.
Similarly, they tend to descend on the library en masse in the evening, so care was given to ensure there was plenty of seating.
The library is meant to signal the broader academic experience available at West Point.
“An understanding of the world is essential,” General Finnegan said. “They need to be multiskilled leaders.”
September 25, 2008
Pg. B6
By Marc Santora
WEST POINT, N.Y. — As Brig. Gen. Patrick Finnegan stood on the sixth-floor terrace of the new library on the campus of the United States Military Academy here, he was able to take in the full sweep of the institution’s history.
Just beyond the parade ground, where a towering bronze statue of Dwight D. Eisenhower looks over the expanse of lawn known as the Plain, the Hudson River narrows as it turns to the south. At the bend stand the original fortifications built to halt any advance of the British toward New York City.
“Looking out on the whole vista, you can say to a student, ‘This is why West Point was built,’” the general said.
But it has been a long time since fortifications and artillery alone could win wars, and West Point has [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]been[/FONT] moving to keep pace and adapt. The new library, dedicated on Wednesday as Thomas Jefferson Hall, is meant to show a commitment to modernization.
The library was completed after more than 10 years of planning and construction at a cost of $65 million, and it took a hard fight to get the funds at a time when the military is fighting expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“From the beginning, there were some in the Army who questioned the need” for a new library, said General Finnegan, the academy’s dean, in an interview before the dedication. Those doubters suggested that all the modern technical information a cadet might need was available online. “They said: ‘You already have a library. Students can just go on Google and get what they need.’”
After securing the funds, Army officials, members of Congress and graduates scrutinized the project, down to the decision to put a coffee shop in the library, the general said.
“People said, ‘You are going to let them drink coffee?’” he recalled. “‘That was not done when I was there.’”
Balancing tradition with the future was a constant struggle.
The six-story building itself — located on the compact central campus, distinguished by its nearly uniform Gothic-influenced stone buildings — attempts to nod at the past while still appearing modern. Most striking is its use of glass, including 8,000 glass bricks that form a glass curtain on the north side.
“No other building on the campus has a glass wall,” said Price Jepsen, an architect with the New York office of STV Group Inc., which worked with Holzman Moss Architecture on the project.
Yet the library, at 148,000 square feet, manages not to seem distinct from the rest of the campus, which has not had any new academic construction in 36 years. Working with state preservationists, the architects included many details, large and small, to tie the library to its surroundings. More than 1,500 tons of granite were brought in from a quarry in New Hampshire that had also provided stone for buildings constructed in the 1960s.
From the flattened archways to the limestone encasements for the windows, many of the West Point signatures remain unchanged. The lampposts on the new library draw their shape from the two cannons that mark the entrance to the old library, which stands directly opposite and is to become a science building. The cannons, known as Alpha and Omega, are said to have fired the first and last artillery shots of the Civil War.
Inside the library — which has 19 miles of shelves to house one million books — the color palette was chosen to complement the cadets’ black and gray uniforms. Graphic abstractions of military symbols, including medals and missiles, were added throughout.
The design was also influenced by aspects of student life. For instance, cadets are not allowed to use elevators, so great attention was paid to creating a staircase that would be a showcase.
“Structurally and architecturally, the stairs were extremely difficult,” Mr. Jepsen said. The result is a six-story open staircase that spirals to the top floor.
Bryn Geffert, the new librarian and a history professor, said the open design enhanced the way students like to study today.
“This is an incredibly social generation,” he said. “Even students doing solitary work like to be engaged in solitary work around other students.”
It is a far different world than when the academy’s first library was built in 1841. Then, fiction and material unrelated to coursework could be checked out only on Saturday and had to be returned on Monday.
There are few carrels in the new building. The book stacks are on either side of the central atrium, which is outfitted with computer stations, tables and couches. On the wings of each floor, beyond the stacks, lounge chairs line the windows, which look onto panoramic views.
The structured days of cadets also provided another challenge for the designers. Classes begin at 7:30 a.m. and do not end until almost 5. At lunchtime, 4,400 students line up near the parade ground and file in unison into the dining hall, eating in 20 minutes and returning to class.
Similarly, they tend to descend on the library en masse in the evening, so care was given to ensure there was plenty of seating.
The library is meant to signal the broader academic experience available at West Point.
“An understanding of the world is essential,” General Finnegan said. “They need to be multiskilled leaders.”