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 The
Long Beach/South Bay chapter of the American Institute of Architects has
honored AC Martin Partners for its design of the Henry Madden Library at
California State University, Fresno.
AC Martin Partners, a Los Angeles-based architectural firm, designed the
$105 million library expansion project, which will be completed in about
a year and become the academic campus' most prominent landmark.
The signature design element is a large elliptical entry tower that
evokes Native American forms, using steel, zinc and wood woven together
in a style similar to basketry created by the region's Mono Indians.
"The basket serves as a metaphor for the library, taking from the Mono
belief that baskets are containers of knowledge," AC Martin Partners
says of its design's inspiration.
Internally, the library will cover more than 340,000 square feet and
have the capacity to double the Madden collection to 2 million volumes,
providing vastly improved services to faculty and students. Design
elements in rich earth-tone colors will call to mind the spirit of the
region's natural beauty and many of the fabrics for the furnishings will
evoke basket weaving patterns.
In presenting a Devine Detail Award for the library design, the jury
praised "the basket metaphor" and the success in incorporating strong
design elements into a publicly funded building.
Most of the funding for the library came from Proposition 55, approved
by California voters in March 2004. An additional $10 million was
donated by the Table Mountain Rancheria, near Fresno, to provide various
enhancements to the interior of the library that will help carry out a
Native American design theme.
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