Gehry's Princeton Library Opens September 11

The four-year project consumed 88,000 pounds of embossed stainless steel and 620 tons of clay brick.

by Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 9/8/2008

Princeton University science majors start classes on September 11, but they'll also get a tutorial in cutting-edge architecture as they hit the books in the school's new Frank Gehry-designed Lewis Library.

The $60 million facility houses the university's collections for astrophysics, biology, chemistry, geosciences, mathematics, physics and statistics. It also contains student classrooms and seminar rooms.

Four years under construction, the project required 88,000 pounds of embossed stainless steel and 620 tons of clay brick, which were combined with glass, steel and stucco to reflect the design of nearby buildings.

The structure features a curtain of aluminum-glazed windows suspended from a curved steel roofline, and walls of sheer glass rising from two wings, helping to blur the boundaries that typically exist between a building’s interior and exterior space.

"Scientists who are focused on complex issues may find that the abstract landscape of the building will stimulate their imagination, and perhaps lead them to thinking outside the box," says Gehry.