The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is a modernist masterpiece. Its rectangular volume is enclosed in sheets of marble, thin enough (at 13∕8") to transmit light. That means the interior of the building glows by day. But it also posed “a major challenge,” says Bill Mahalko, who, as project architect for Chicago’s HBRA Architects, oversaw a 16-month, $70 million renovation of the building. New Haven’s Newman Architects was architect of record.
“The thermal qualities of the marble are similar to those of single-pane glass,” says Mahalko. “It’s not a good insulator.” In cold weather, condensation formed inside the building, which houses some of the world’s most precious volumes—including a Gutenberg Bible.
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