Unique Library Design Incorporates Eco-Friendly Elements

Top-heavy buildings typically incorporate many walls to help support the weight. Jacob Lehrer went in a different direction when designing a library.

Asked to conceptualize a structure featuring round columns for Professor Ines Benitez’s Architecture Studio 2 class, Lehrer remembers thinking, “Why not play it up?”

He implemented one-foot concrete columns among few walls on the first floor to give the building the dramatic appearance of heavier upper levels that are barely supported underneath.

Using Lumion, a 3D-rendering program, Lehrer situated the library between a cramped street and a back garden, having to determine the relative size of the building in relation to the ones around it. Curtain walls and an oversized skylight at the top allowed for plenty of light. Lehrer spent extra time with the stairs, individually modeling each one and positioning them as a showpiece within the library.

“For me, creating is always enjoyable.  I like to have free reign and use huge open spaces to create the illusion of floating,” he says. “However, I also like to use texture and color to add interesting patterns, and large holes to connect multiple floors.”

Lehrer had designed homes in high school, but the Wentworth class gave him the first chance to design a commercial or municipal building. Upon graduating, the LEED-accredited green architect hopes to work at a larger architectural firm in Boston or New York designing modern, eco-friendly buildings.

“I like to incorporate elements that help keep the project environmentally friendly,” he says, “whether it is locally sourced materials or large glass panels to help let in light and heat naturally.”

Learn more about Wentworth’s Architecture program.

--Greg Abazorius

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