Three Yale Professors Reunite on Slover Library Creation in Downtown Norfolk
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Lori Crouch (757) 6644067 /cell (757) 6465381, [email protected] Cindy Mackey (757) 7544553, [email protected] Three Yale Professors Reunite on Slover Library Creation in Downtown Norfolk NORFOLK, Va. – (December 2014) – In the 1960s, Herbert S. Newman, Kent Bloomer and Ray Gindroz were pioneers who taught as a team at Yale School of Architecture in New Haven, Conn. Now the architect, sculptural ornamenter and urban planner, respectively, have collaborated together for the first time on an architectural project–the $65 million Slover Library, set to open January 9, 2015, in downtown Norfolk. These internationally respected figures have partnered on an architectural gem for the city that relates beautifully to other downtown projects. Slover Library was conceived to be the anchor of a revitalized urban district and, with its sixstory tower, acts like a beacon. The new main library replaces a previous library that was razed in 2009 to make way for light rail. Now Slover Library affords a pleasing view of a busy lightrail station on the former library’s site, called MacArthur Square featuring handsome landscaping, benches and public sculpture. For decades, Gindroz has been a visionary behind Norfolk’s urban planning. From the onset of the competition to design the library, Newman Architects invited Bloomer to contribute sculptural ornamentation and overall input. When the trio gathered for their initial project meeting, about five years ago, it was the first time all three were together in 17 years. “We found ourselves sitting around the table like we did before,” Gindroz said. “After about 10 minutes, it was the same as it always had been. We were able to just pick up this thread of conversation about the relationship between city design, architecture and ornament.” When the three were architecture professors together at Yale University, urban design as a field was just forming, Bloomer said. “And we were experimenting,” Newman added. “We were on fertile but virgin ground in the program at Yale.” Newman recalled that Gindroz taught him much early on about European cities. As the three contemplated a library design, the Piazza della Signoria in Florence emerged as an important precedent. One of Europe’s great public spaces, the Piazza is defined by the Pallazzo Vecchio, built as stoutly as the Seaboard; but to the corner of the piazza, an open, fourcolumned loggia leads the public a few hundred feet down the street to the premiere Uffizi Art museum, with all its treasures within. Newman Architects’ design features Seaboard on the new MacArthur Plaza with a threestory loggia, slightly rotated off the street. Like a face turning to address oncoming pedestrians, the loggia brings the public down the block and into the library’s main entrance. Newman said that Gindroz was the first to show him, half a century ago, that a city is a work of architecture in itself, and all buildings and elements should serve that vision. “That stuck with me,” Newman said, and was a guiding principle in the design and siting for Slover Library. Newman described the library project as “a celebration of the city, celebration of public place.” Bloomer said, “This is a public place of the mind.” Gindroz added that the project is “a celebration of places,” stressing the plural. “It is a collection of places that begins outside.” “We have yet to see what will be the fruits of this adventure, but it is our hope that this will be the heart of Norfolk and the region,” Newman said. The library opens to the public on January 9, 2015. Slover Library spans more than three centuries in architecture: the historic Seaboard building (1800s), the Selden Arcade (1900s) and a new sixstory tower with atrium. The 138,000squarefoot jewel will house traditional library functions as well as innovative technology and engaging community spaces. Herbert S. Newman, FAIA, is founder of Newman Architects with offices in New Haven, Conn. and Washington DC, and an active design principal in the firm. For 50 years, he has guided a collaborative process of innovative inquiry and design in master planning, urban design and architecture for education, housing, civic institutions and commerce. With noted pioneers Charles Moore and Kent Bloomer, he helped start the Yale School of Architecture Building Project, still a cornerstone of the graduate architecture program. He began his career as an architectural designer in I.M. Pei’s firm in New York City, working on international projects, including Place Ville Marie, a modern office tower in Montreal, Canada. His many awards include being named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and receiving the Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture. Kent Bloomer is the principal and founder of the Bloomer Studio, and has been its chief designer since 1965. His sculpture has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in California, the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Conn., and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, as well as other museums and galleries. His work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Conn., and the Carnegie Museum of Art. His large scale projects have won state and national awards from the American Institute of Architects. Bloomer’s most recent projects include a foliated trellis for the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (architect: Cesar Pelli and Associates), large roof sculptures on the Harold Washington Library in Chicago (architect: Hammond, Beeby and Babka) and a decorative frieze for the Nashville Public Library (architect: Robert A.M. Stern). Raymond L. Gindroz pioneered the development of participatory planning processes for neighborhoods, downtowns and regional plans. He is an internationally recognized advocate and veteran practitioner who has helped revitalize cities by transforming inner city neighborhoods and distressed public housing projects into traditional mixedincome neighborhoods and by working with downtowns to attract new and diverse development. He is cofounder and principal emeritus of Urban Design Associates, a Pittsburgh firm established in 1964. Gindroz taught urban design at Yale for more than two decades and is a popular speaker whose books include “The Urban Design Handbook” and “The Place of Dwelling.” About Slover Library Slover Library, located at 235 E. Plume Street in Norfolk, will offer computers, internet access, interactive displays and a digital media lab. Collections will include adult popular fiction and nonfiction, a youth library and learning center, and teen services in a casual environment and access to popular teen offerings. Additionally, the community will be able to access hightech civic meeting rooms and the important Sargeant Memorial Local History and Genealogy Collection. Slover Library will be among the most technologically advanced public libraries in the country. The library will be open Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For information visit www.sloverlibrary.com or call 757 664READ (7323). ###.