Burton Barr Central Library

Burton Barr Central Library

View of the North East corner of the building
Location 1221 North Central Avenue
Phoenix, Arizona 85004
United States
Coordinates 33°27′45.00″N 112°04′23.50″W / 33.4625000°N 112.0731944°W / 33.4625000; -112.0731944Coordinates: 33°27′45.00″N 112°04′23.50″W / 33.4625000°N 112.0731944°W / 33.4625000; -112.0731944
Fifth floor of Burton Barr Public Library, Phoenix

The Burton Barr Central Library is the central library of Phoenix, Arizona. It is the flagship location and administrative headquarters for the Phoenix Public Library.

History

DWL Architects and Will Bruder teamed to design the building. It incorporates a Buckminster Fuller tensegrity structure in its roof and featured motorized louvers on its south face for improved sun control (they never worked properly and were disconnected years ago). The library is physically oriented for a display of sunlight alignment on equinox days.

The building was funded by a 1988 bond issue and replaced a nearby 1950s-era facility on McDowell Road that is now part of the Phoenix Art Museum. The location opened in May 1995 and is 280,000 square feet (26,000 m²) on five stories. Most of the fifth floor is an open, 1-acre (0.40 ha) reading room. The entire building is connected by a five-floor glass-and-steel elevator and stairwell known as the "Crystal Canyon." It was named in honor of Burton Barr, the Republican Major Leader in the Arizona House of Representatives from 1966 to 1986.[1] There are over 705,000 items in the collection.

In 2008, the library was chosen as one of the Phoenix Points of Pride.[2] In 2010, the library received a LEED Existing Buildings Silver 2.0 designation.[3] The library was awarded in the "existing buildings" category, rather than new construction, as LEED was not created until 1998, three years after the facility was opened.

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Phoenix Public Library: Who is Burton Barr?
  2. ↑ City of Phoenix press release about the 2008 Points of Pride
  3. ↑ U.S. Green Building Council, Burton Barr Central Library, http://www.usgbc.org/projects/burton-barr-central-library.
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