Yesterday, we saw that Olin Library may be getting a new facade. Today we propose what is should look like: A glass and and aluminum atrium with panoramic views of the Slope and Arts Quad on the lower floors. Additional faculty offices and graduate carrels can be built around said atrium. Like this:
So a mix of Koolhaas's Seattle Public Library and whatever Liebeskind is doing these days seems like a safe bet.
My apologies to architects and graphic designers everywhere.
On a more serious note, unlike most other Cornellians, I was never bothered by Olin's aesthete on campus. It served its purpose proudly: A hulking mass of concrete and books, echoing the libraries of many of the Midwestern state schools. Whenever somebody would complain about Olin, I would just claim that Cornell had the best of both worlds -- the arts quad of a private northeast college and the big research library of a Midwestern university.
My only wish is that the color of the building was more of a darker sandstone or brownstone than today's pasty-white rusting concrete.
Olin Library is actually a place very near and dear to my heart. My first job at Cornell was manning the circulation desk at Olin, under the wonderful guidance of Carol Buckley. And I spent an inordinate amount of time in the basement of Olin my senior year, conducting data entry from musty old volumes for my senior thesis.
