Temple University’s High-Tech Library Gets High Marks at Civic Design Review

Let's just say the information-only presentation went well.

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Temple University’s flashy new library went before the Civic Design Review Committee on Tuesday, and it might be an understatement to say that the information-only presentation went well. PlanPhilly’s Jared Brey was on hand as CDR board member Cecil Baker proclaimed his love for the design of the project telling Temple’s architect, Margaret Carney: “I see your project and I get filled with hope.”

Carney explained that the design of the building is meant to be beautiful, inviting and on the cutting edge of library technology–as more than two million books will be able to be checked out via an Amazon-like search and reservation system. The books will then be quickly retrieved and delivered by a robot. Bray reports that 200,000 more will be displayed the old fashioned way, in traditional stacks and no robots.

In positioning it adjacent to the new quad, Temple is repositioning the core of its campus from Beury Beach at the Bell Tower to a visual and social hub marked by a beautiful library and a vast green space, the centerpiece to other landscape projects Temple has planned for the campus.

The project still needs to head before the Planning Commission at some point in the fall, where it will once again go before the CDR Committee for further review.