The Dracut Permanent Building Committee voted at their June 5 meeting to award the construction of the new Dracut Town Hall to CTA Construction, of Waltham, MA, following an overwhelming approval of an additional $1.3 million in funds for the project at the June 3 town meeting. Construction is scheduled to begin by early July.
“Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light,” up at the Museum of Modern Art in New York through June 24, showcases the remarkable work of a little-known French architect of the nineteenth century. The retrospective focuses on his two large library projects in Paris: the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève and the reading room of the old Bibliothèque nationale. Both buildings are marked by an elegance of form, where slender iron support beams support airy, daylit vaults.
MoMA’s ad campaign features the byline “The architect who invented the modern library”—a grand boast that might not be so far off the mark. Labrouste’s influence can be directly seen in the design of prominent American libraries including the New York Public Library by Carrière and Hastings and the Boston Public Library by Charles Follen McKim.
Johnson Roberts Associates values the historical legacy of these beautiful spaces and appreciates their timeless grandeur. They vividly demonstrate the way that structures can embody philosophical ideals: space and light combine to create conditions for contemplation and intellectual exploration.
Find more information on the MoMA show at their website, here.
You can see vintage images of the New York Public Library and Boston Public Library from our online library postcard collection here and here.
Image: Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris—via Wikipedia Commons
Daniel Ollila
Daniel Ollila joined Johnson Roberts Associates in 2013 after working at multiple other Boston area design firms specializing in residential design. Daniel was awarded a Design Excellence Award for his masters’ thesis at Wentworth Institute of Technology, titled Image vs. Reality in Suburban America. Ollila is also an adjunct faculty member at North Shore Community College and is currently working toward licensure.
Christian Schaller
Christian Schaller has over fifteen years of architectural and planning experience with public libraries and projects in both the public and private sector including schools, residential collegiate facilities, luxury residential homes and additions, hospitality and Retail environments, at locations in Illinois, Wisconsin, California, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio. He has worked with Johnson Roberts Associates over the past decade on a number of projects.
Mr. Schaller has worked as a designer for both Frye Gillan Molinaro, including work on the Poplar Creek Library, in Streamwood, Illinois and for Farr Associates. While employed at Farr Associates, Christian Schaller was a project manager for the Shaw Technology and Learning Center located in Chicago, Illinois, for all design phases for the conversion of the former 100,000 SF Sears and Roebucks Power House into the Henry Ford learning Institute.
Karla Johnson was recently invited to speak at Brandeis University about her experience as an architect working on the award-winning Tufts University Interfaith Center. Her presentation for the course “Religion in American Life: A Sociological Approach,” taught by Dr. Wendy Cadge, Associate Professor of Sociology & Women’s and Gender Studies, used the project as a case study for the possibilities of multi-faith spaces on college campuses.
You can find more information on the Tufts Interfaith Center here.
The Town of South Hadley has awarded Fontaine Bros. Inc. of Springfield, MA the role of General Contractor for the South Hadley Public Library. The lowest of nine bids, Fontaine Bros. came in under budget, and as a result the Library was able to accept three add alternates.
This will be the third project Fontaine Bros. and Johnson Roberts Associates have worked on together—previous collaborations include Sunderland Public Library and the Lunenburg Public Library.