When architects renovate a notable building, they often wonder how they might pay respect to the original work while giving the new spaces their own identity. The New York office of CannonDesign has come up with a subtly evocative solution for two floors in the 12-story-high Bobst Library at New York University’s Washington Square campus. In creating a dedicated area for bringing together a varied assortment of holdings for Special Collections, the architects have paid a certain homage to the building, designed in 1973 by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, and even to the work of such masters as Mies van der Rohe and Sir John Soane, whom Johnson often cited as inspiration. At the same time, the design team efficiently solved the programmatic needs of the librarians, students, researchers, and faculty dealing with rare materials in such subjects as English and American literature, labor history, and downtown culture.