Excerpt: Chulavista Library by LEGORRETA is a project that combines elements of contemporary Mexican architecture with simple sculptural forms. The design features gardens, courtyards, and high ceilings, reducing costs on expensive materials. The open courtyards encourage outdoor reading and natural light, while the massing and sculptural forms give identity and personality to the spaces, altering the image of the traditional library.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Located in the City of Chula Vista, south of San Diego, California, the 37,000 square foot library incorporates the best elements of contemporary Mexican architecture, combined with simple sculptural forms. Conceived to satisfy the needs of a growing multi-cultural population, and acts as a cultural bridge, the library was inspired in the Mexican haciendas.
The architects took advantage of the large site to create gardens, courtyards, and high ceilings rather than spending money on expensive materials. The variety of open courtyards will invite visitors to wander through the building and use them for outdoor reading; they will also bring natural light to the different areas. The massing and sculptural forms give identity and personality to the different spaces and will change the institutional and monumental image of the traditional library.
The main entry is through an open courtyard that leads to the browsing area which is located in the heart of the library. The browsing area is located on a covered 50 ft. by 50 ft. courtyard, topped by a 25 ft high ceiling that has 162 small skylights. The children’s section is topped by a 30 ft high barrel-vault ceiling that spans across 130 feet, the inside of it is painted lively blue and the exterior is covered with copper.
The rotated cube on the west side of the building is the literacy center. As an integral part of the library, but with a separate entrance for those seeking privacy, it has a 100 seat multi-purpose room, a 25 seat conference room, study bays and administrative offices. Topped by 12 copper vaulted ceilings stepped inside like pyramids, the adults, young adults and the Technology User’s Center share one flexible open space. These areas open into courtyards, each one with its own personality and configuration; copper covers the roofs.
Surrounding the 182 parking spaces, there is a grassy hill with an earth-form amphitheater for outdoor events. The use of local species throughout the site, like cactus, palm trees and other desert plants was to limit the usage of water during the drought season and to have minimum maintenance.
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