ABSTRACT
In the 1970s and 1980s, renewed interest in historicism in architecture brought with it a revival of the classical model of library planning and design, emphasizing the architectural celebration of the edifice, reading room, and display of books. More than a stylistic preference, the classically-inspired postmodern library was a challenge in many ways to the progressive development of the public library program, and its influence on planning and design. In the 1970s, renewed interest in classical precedents in architecture brought with it a new formalism and monumentality that would have a significant impact on library planning and design. Phillips Exeter Academy Library, by Louis Kahn from 1972, was a radical reinterpretation of the traditional Beaux-Arts library, combining decentralized open stacks and study carrels with a monumental central hall, the function of which was largely symbolic, celebrating the library as a “sanctuary of books and ideas”.
