Library Design: “A New Chapter for University of Toronto’s Brutalist Behemoth Fort Book”

From The Globe and Mail:

The hulking pile sometimes known as Fort Book looms over the U of T campus like a sci-fi version of a medieval castle. From one angle it resembles a strutting turkey made from Lego blocks. Its dull concrete walls admit light grudgingly through tall slit windows. Instead of a grand main entrance, it has several, some reached by trudging up wide stone staircases. Inviting it is not.

A new wing aims to change that. The Robarts Commons adds five storeys of light-bathed study and meeting space to the old fort.

With pandemic restrictions easing, the library decided to give students a little treat and unveil the addition this week, while the finishing touches were still being applied. The doors opened at 8:30 on Thursday morning. Early birds started trickling in, looking a bit agog as they explored.

What they found was quite marvellous. Visitors enter by way of a new plaza flanked by cherry trees. Inside are 1,200 new study spots: some at facing desks; others on descending steps; others lined up against a huge glass wall; still others in chairs arranged in conversation circles. The look is all warm oak and grey carpet.

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See Also: Background and Images via University of Toronto Libraries

See Also: This is What the Inside of the Expanded Robarts Library at U of Toronto Will Look Like (via BlogTO; August 2021)

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