Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

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Project Name: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Construction year: 1963
Website: www.library.yale.edu/beinecke
Address: Wall Street 121 , NEW HAVEN-CONNECTICUT - United States

Architect(s) : Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) (www.som.com)
Project Category: Cultural

Latitude: 41.3116
Longitude: -72.9272

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1963, the Beinecke Library made a break from the firm's line of corporate headquarters. The Beinecke protects its rare books by keeping them in air-conditioned glass cages within a large and windowless rectangular void in white marble.

Although the walls are windowless, the marble panels in the walls (held within a concrete and steel grid) are cut sufficientlly thin that they are translucent. During the day, the building is lit by an eerie but pleasing yellowish light glimmering through the whole walls of marble, supplemented by lights around the book cages. At night the effect is reversed, and the interior lights cause the whole building to glow gently when seen from the outside.

The mystique of this structure is further emphasised by its being raised off the ground by concrete piers, with a glass shell around the space beneath the building providing the entrance. The purity of the walls is therefore uninterrupted by either doors or windows.

Contributed by ArchiTeam