How would you folks redesign the interior of Johnson's Boston Public Library building

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donwarnersaklad

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How would you folks redesign the interior of Johnson's 1972 Boston Public Library building?... moving through Johnson's BPL building's spaces is problematical.

Lavatories are decrepit, unsanitary, intimidating.

Signage isn't appropriate.

Names are used problematically for the different areas of Johnson's library building adding to the difficulty navigating the floors and departments.

A more accessible public bulletin board is needed for public notices.

Library leadership is unreceptive to change.

Floor by floor building directories are needed at the entrances that list for each floor the departments and the department heads.

The online diagrams' graphics need to be redesigned, easier to understand, easier to use at http://www.bpl.org/central/plan.htm
 
Johnson himself considered the building, "a mistake". It would probably be a better use of time, effort, and funds to replace the addition with something far more functional and aesthetically harmonious with the original library.
 
After feigning contextualism with the massing and materials, Johnson set out to do the complete inverse of whatever the McKim building did. The relationship of the public to private spaces, the location of the stacks, circulation, the relationship of the courtyard to the atrium, the entry not being centered on any grand public space, etc. In the end, Philip didn't think the rationale behind those decisions really was in the best interest or operation of the addition. He realized he went off on a typical humorous, in terms of design, bent and that it had clouded the potential of the final product.

There were a few other major issues as well. Particularly the use of expensive materials on exterior didn't carry through to the richness of the interior, robbing it of much potential. The fenestration, or lack thereof, was likened to a mausoleum or fascist machine gun bunker, and the general quality of the lighting was a massive disappointment to Johnson.

The disillusion was enough for him to trend away from public architecture for the remainder of his career. Well, that and being a money whore.
 
I didn't know there were whores who did things for something other than money...

God, I've always hated this part of the BPL. Unfortunately, I've never spent enough time inside to have the foggiest clue of how to re-plan it. I guess, my suggestion would be to digitize, because the major city libraries and the universities (and Congress) may be the only true libraries left in the next few decades.
 
Getting back to the original poster:

How would you folks redesign the interior of Johnson's 1972 Boston Public Library building?... moving through Johnson's BPL building's spaces is problematical.

Like I said, the whole concept behind the current design is flawed. It could be massively altered to keep Mr.StarArchitect Designosaur's name on it, however the design would be so radically changed it would seem quite silly. It wouldn't resemble a Philip Johnson building anymore with the changes required.

Lavatories are decrepit, unsanitary, intimidating.

Part of that is the homeless population. New lighting, fixtures, and finishes, could go a long way but the current locations of the facilities and the management of their upkeep would continue to present problems.

Signage isn't appropriate. (Action item A)

The same graphic design people whom create the websites for the City, MBTA, etc. could easily crank out way finding materials. Something so simple, cheap, and important is overlooked when it shouldn't be.

Names are used problematically for the different areas of Johnson's library building adding to the difficulty navigating the floors and departments.

Part of that is the design of the Johnson building, bad programing at the outset of the design, and the remainder is nomenclature which could be resolved through application of the services by the aforementioned above.

A more accessible public bulletin board is needed for public notices.

This could easily be an off the shelf item from a variety of suppliers, what's the difficulty in selecting one?

Library leadership is unreceptive to change.

Can't help you there.


Floor by floor building directories are needed at the entrances that list for each floor the departments and the department heads.

See (Action item A), the same people should be designing these for uniformity

The online diagrams' graphics need to be redesigned, easier to understand, easier to use

Again see (Action item A), the same people should be designing these for uniformity

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Now if this is some Woburn Public Library style whimsical design competition, I'm sure many people would be able to come up with terrifically entertaining and utterly unbuildable designs. If this is a more serious matter, I'm sure one of us could come up with something realistic. Albeit, I don't think all the finishes, fixtures, lighting, signage in the world, can overcome the serious design flaws in that library addition.
 
Woburn has a beautiful library building. Why are they having a design competition?
 
Woburn wants a library addition which is twice the square footage of their existing library. The city center is a urban design mess and the immediate environs requires extensive modification to properly suit any real project.
In order to renovate the existing building, do a proper addition, restore a proper setting for the institution, and create a true city center with the requisite physical and visual connections there would need to be a pile of money. That isn't there and neither is the political will.

There was a design competition several months ago which produced primarily impractical, and in my opinion utterly useless, paper architecture. For such a large program and scope, it would have been a large undertaking for any office or individual to make a serious stab at the project. As a result, the submissions were theory heavy. The competition criteria didn't call for anything practical and did in fact lend towards such garbage. However, given a VERY REAL AND PRACTICAL PROBLEM, it seems silly to waste the time to have a competition with awards for what essentially are pretty pictures without any bearing on reality.
 
Oh yes, Woburn Center is an awful place, but the library is a gem. I've never understood why a town that is so attractive in many places (e.g. Horn Pond) let its center deteriorate this badly.
 
Woburn has a lot more money than Chelsea, but Chelsea's town center is much more attractive and functional.
 
Woburn has a lot of potential (disclosure: I was born in Woburn at the Choate Hospital on Warren Avenue, which is now an assisted living facility). The main problem is that the City's kowtowing to the ease of automobile access over the years has turned its lovely common and civic center into a glorified rotary and offramp. It's prettier, but not much more friendly or urban than the rotary a few miles up Main Street at Routes 38 and 128. A lane reduction and redesign through the center coupled with using Warren Ave and North Warren Street as a secondary bypass around the center between Main and Winn Streets would do wonders for the urban health of Woburn Center.
 
Roxxma said:
The main problem is that the City's kowtowing to the ease of automobile access over the years has turned its lovely common and civic center into a glorified rotary and offramp.
Click to expand...

See "Jacobs, Jane" for details...
 
Can I add absolutely nothing to the conversation by saying I hate the Johnson addition?
 
To me, the Johnson Addition is an act of architectural taxidermy. The massing and articulation all seem (to me, anyway) like references to (and all-out thefts from) several large-scale Frank Lloyd Wright buildings (see below) without any attempt to imbue the building with the spirit of Wright's work.


The "skins" of these buildings, stitched together by Johnson, are stretched over a bland, value-engineered International Style core, bereft of any evidence of craft or humanity.

Crazy?
 
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I've honestly never had any trouble with the BPL addition in terms of the exterior (although those blocky fences are strange). The interior is definitely in need of some work, especially in terms of lighting. Maybe they could redo the roof to add some more natural lighting...Adding some color and art/murals would go a long way, too.

Also found this neat photo of the building in the 1970s with a vacant lot across from it
 
Holy cow! There are buildings mere feet outside of the picture frame, and yet if you didn't know any better you'd think this were Gary, Indiana.
 
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