The Price Gilbert - Crosland Tower Renewal project aimed to execute a vision by the Georgia Institute of Technology for a Research Library of the Twenty First Century.  This adaptive reuse project involved the rethinking of what the program of a library is in an ever changing climate of resource interfacing and the use of physical space.  

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The past iterations of the Price Gilbert and Crosland Tower facilities were incredible structural assets with separate functional identities and aesthetics.  Positioned as a southern entry point into the Georgia Tech campus, the connected buildings serve as a primary gateway to the physical campus and its research assets.  Price Gilbert was a Mid-Century Modern crystalline gem that had degraded over time while Crosland Tower served as a utilitarian opaque stacks building in support of its counterpart.  

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Through a collaborative effort by BNIM and Praxis 3, the library renewal design leveraged these existing assets through varying extents of transformation.  In the case of Price Gilbert, its renovation acted to preserve and elevate its original historic condition.  Crosland Tower had a more dramatic transformation as its physical archive was relocated off site, and the building turned into spaces for academic gathering.  This shift in they physical housing of books was completed in response to the significant shift away from physical medial to the use of digital media by students and faculty at Georgia Tech.  Physical materials and archives are still easily accessible, but materials must first be selected for use and then are transported for pick up by the borrower several days after selection.  

The additional floor space created by the move of the physical stacks allowed for the strategic removal of floors in Crosland Tower to generate expansive volumes of diverse program spaces complimenting the volumes of Price Gilbert included in its original design.  Floor to floor heights in Crosland Tower are low and without additional volume and light, the building spaces were oppressive to its occupants.

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These diverse volumes and the addition of daylighting served to support the projects’ focus on AIA COTE’s measure nine, Long Life/Loose Fit.  The schematic design of the program in relation to the building was highly flexible to support the longevity of the facilities beyond this point in time renewal process.  Ove time, the Georgia Tech Librarians will be able to continually shift and adapt their surroundings to support the changing climate of resource interfacing. 

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Along with program accommodation, the renewal process involved a complete building systems overhaul centrally focused on energy and water efficiency.  While the occupancy of these facilities have doubled, the resources utilized have dramatically decreased to a fraction of the prerenewal usage rates.