A 'beacon' for Exeter

Architects and design fans weigh in on the majesty of Louis Kahn's masterwork, the Class of 1945 Library.

Timeless. Elemental. Accessible. Grounded in Exeter, both school and town. These are just a handful of ways in which architecture and building professionals wax lyrical about the Academy’s Louis Kahn-designed Class of 1945 Library.

The intellectual and cultural heart of campus, the library is also a celebrity to those who treasure design. Architecture lovers worldwide trek to Exeter to see Kahn’s creation, which turns 50 years old this year. As part of our celebration, we reached out to those who see the iconic building through the designer’s lens. Whether it’s the library’s inviting-yet-functional aspects, its widespread recognition as a campus linchpin, how it showcases Kahn’s genius, or how it fires the imagination of both students and professionals, these Kahn fans were more than happy to share their ardor.

According to William Richards ’00, who holds a PhD in art and architectural history and runs editorial and design consultancy Team Three, Kahn deftly creates something that stands apart yet is distinctively steeped in Exeter. “If you look at the context of where the library is, Louis Kahn doesn’t incorporate classical details in the way that Dunbar or the Academy Building do,” Richards says. “But he does use classical proportions. And he does use clinker bricks, irregular bricks from the Exeter brickyard, made from local clay.” The building’s materials and the way they’re used reveal an approach that’s both practical and personable. “Kahn used concrete and brick and glass in a really muscular way,” notes Richards. “But he was capable of creating a sense of intimacy too. You go into the atrium and look up and you see a giant X in the ceiling, lots of concrete floating above your head. But then you go to the periphery of the interior and you’ve got these side spaces that are incredible small and intimate, corner conferences spaces that are human-scaled. Kahn’s capable of the entire range, from big to small, from imposing to very approachable. He uses hard materials, but the brick, for example, is visually very warm, in a dozen shades from bright red to chocolate-brown; in the summer, the bricks are literally warm to the touch, which helps insulate the building. He’s using these hard materials, but he’s also giving them personality.” There’s also the narrative of the building, adds Richards. “The idea that you ascend the stairs, move through the atrium, go to the card catalogue, find the book you need, and you take that book and make your way to the periphery where the light is, and you sit in the carrel and study by the light. I think that’s a nice poetic sentiment. That’s what a library is all about.”

Fellow alum Janney Wilson ’83, chair of Trustees’ building and ground committee, notes the library’s critical presence on campus, mentioning ongoing plans for upgrades and adjustments to library spaces to better suit the campus community’s evolving needs. “It’s a real focal point, and we want to ensure it continues to serve a terrific purpose for students, staff, and faculty.” As a student, Wilson spent a lot of time in the library, studying and socializing with friends. “The architecture sometimes begged a little troublemaking,” she says, recalling paper airplanes zooming across the atrium. But she also found the library’s off-campus visitors fascinating, the busloads of architecture students that would “lie on the oriental rug in the middle of the floor and look up at the ceiling.” Fourteen-year-olds didn’t always appreciate the design, she notes, but they could see how serious the architecture students were.

Ann Beha Architects has worked on multiple Exeter library restoration and renovation projects over the past two decades, and architect Josh Lacasse has managed several of those projects. “Our work tends to involve the intersection of historic property with new use, or reframing space for uses in the future,” he says. “We have a history with this building and a sense of appreciation for it.” Like Richards, Lacasse admires Kahn’s use of material. “He saw the red brick on the predominantly Georgian campus and recognized that that was the architectural vocabulary, but he deployed it in a new — what I would call sympathetic — way. The library sits on the green, across from the Academy Building, using similar materials but in a different way. From a personal and professional perspective that aligns with my values as an architect in that we never seek to produce carbon copies of historic buildings, but to produce work that acknowledges history but doesn’t try to imitate.” There are challenges to working with a historic building, of course, says Lacasse with his project-manager hat on. “Integrating modern technology into a building of this vintage is a major challenge. On the other hand, technology is on our side in that so many things can be wireless. So, we’ve got wireless systems deployed in the building, because it’s not like a typical office building where you can run a bunch of cable above the ceiling tiles and forget about it — every wire has to find a place to go, a place to hide.”

Lacasse feels the building’s impact on a more immediate level, too, having studied it since he was in design school. “It falls into a very small category of projects that, having studied it and finally getting to see it in person, exceeds expectations,” says Lacasse. “Oftentimes when you’ve built up an admiration of a building through books and magazines or other formats, when you actually visit, them they sort of fall flat.” This was the opposite, he says. “I think it’s the emotional experience that you get from the light and the warmth and the inviting nature of the finishes, the sensory experience. This was, ‘Wow, this is better than I thought!’”

Another sensory appreciation comes from Carl Jay, director of historic preservation at Shawmut Design and Construction, who has also worked on the library since the early aughts. Jay, whose bachelor degree is in wood science and technology, has always been moved by what he describes as a “monumental” building. “It was amazing,” he says. “As we took things apart, you understood what Kahn was doing: mechanical systems were threaded into that building incredibly tightly, everything completely concealed. And I was impressed by the materials. The brick was the last brick that this plant provided from Exeter, so that was cool. And the idea of the carrels being white oak at the windows was beautiful. Then you get into the massive concrete structure itself, which is incredibly well done. From the central hall you have these great big round openings through which you can see the bookcases in gorgeous white-oak panel, and then there’s the light shining in from the atrium. There’s beauty in all of that, in being in that great hall, looking up, and then seeing all of this.”

Peter Reiss, of Architectural Resources Cambridge, another campus partner on renovation and development projects, studied the library in architecture school — “I knew about Exeter from learning about that building before I knew about the school” — where it was touted as an exemplar of modern architecture. As an architect, Reiss discovered new ways to appreciate Kahn’s work. “I’ve always enjoyed library spaces that help contemplative learning and thinking,” he says. “Those wood carrels along the windows are wonderful — individual, private spaces, but off this big connected space. I love the way Kahn blends this space that’s impressive and accessible, where it’s easy to understand where to go and find books, but then also creates these nooks and crannies. I’ve worked on designs for other libraries where I try to create that balance – a variety of spaces for learning and study and interaction — and I think the Kahn library does that beautifully.”

Some of Reiss’ other campus projects have also contributed to his new view of the library, most recently when he worked on south campus. “We worked on the Field House, and we were involved in the whole south-campus masterplan which included the Field House and the Center for Theater and Dance. I loved being in that part of campus, looking back and seeing the library and how it holds its place: it’s a kind of beacon and marker, like the Academy Building, but in a different way.”