Academic and Research Library Project Information

The Smith and Osher Cartographic Collections of the University include rare maps, atlases, geographies and globes spanning from 1475 to the present. Michaels Associates, working in conjunction with the University Librarian, George Parks; the Curator of the Collections, Yolanda Theunissen; Dr. Harold Osher; a distinguished international Board of Review; and JSA, the architects of the dramatic new library, have created a facility to protect and exhibit these spectacular materials for the use of serious researchers and the general public. Located on the first floor of the new library, the Osher Map Library contains an exhibition area, a reference center with offices for the Curator and two scholars, a consultation room for the study of rare materials, a state-of- the-art staff work room and an environmentally controlled vault for storage and fiber-optics for UV and IR-free illumination in the exhibition and consultation areas.

Presently occupying the first four floors of a 5-story building, work began in November 1989 on the new Harvey Library with a fast track team consisting of a construction manager, the architectural team and key library staff members, Mr. Earl Bean, Director and Michaels Associates. All interior layouts and furnishings specifications were completed by Michaels Associates as were directions on lighting concepts, power and cabling distribution systems, finishes, and design of service desks. The facility included a 24-hour study, new on-line catalog and circulation system, beta site for the American Memory Project, a Special Collections Reading Room and archive, and splendid new space for student reading and staff. Michaels Associates have subsequently been selected to handle the interior design for a fifth floor state-of-the-art technology mall.

George Washington University Librarian, Dr. Sharon Rogers, in 1986, engaged Michaels Associates to prepare a space planning study to guide future architectural work on the expansion of its library to upper floors, then occupied by university administrative offices. The building was originally designed to permit such future expansion although university offices had come to occupy the expansion floors. Reorganization plans were studied and evaluated. The eventual product of this commission was a detailed furniture plan of the entire two hundred thousand square foot facility including a reorganization of AV, microforms, technical services, and the circulation desk/security check area. Since early1994 Michaels Associates have continued to assist the library administration in further planning efforts in the special collections and technical services areas.

Michaels Associates, working with architects SFCS and FEEK and university program authors from the Fiber & Electro Optics Research Center, the Wireless Communications Systems Center, the Center for Commercial Space Communication, Human-Computer Interaction Research and Development, Parallel Computation Laboratory, Laboratory for Scientific Visual Analysis, Digital Libraries Testbed, Multimedia Lab, Learning Resources Center and the Newman Library are currently planning a new, 160,000 sq. ft. building which will bring together teaching and research in communications and information technology with research and development efforts in instructional technology. Unlimited information resources will be available and accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from anywhere on the planet.

Typical of many vital communities across the country, Wytheville's Community College is headed by visionary administrators and staff. It is an important center for post-high school and continuing education both in the community and as a source and node for distance learning throughout the region. Connected to the Virginia State Library Network, the Community College is building a new combined library and learning resources center which will combine the newest modes of teaching and technology. Working with Director Anna Ray Roberts and architect Motley + Associates, Michaels Associates has developed a program and plan to meet the budget and needs of the school. Construction drawings are complete and the project awaits only the legislative signal to begin, at which time Michaels Associates will specify the interior furnishings.

Florida International University in Bay Vista, Florida completed in 1987, is a three-story 75,000 square foot new library for the Bay Vista Campus. The director, Dr. Laurence Miller was the client with whom we worked closely exploring various alternative space planning studies. The plans incorporated significant areas for AV and database search, curriculum development, graduate studies, general classrooms and administrative offices in addition to the general collection. Open floors with a minimum of fixed partitions, wide column spacing, indirect lighting, and appropriate floor load capacities provide flexible space for constantly changing and expanding collections and services. More recently we worked with Dr. Miller and M.C. Harry/TAC on plans for the expansion and remodelling of the Athenaeum - University Park Library. Michaels Associates was instrumental in the call for and development of a master plan for the Library which, in conjunction with the above team, was completed in 1991 asThe Library Development Plan. Subsequently, the library has been designed to incorporate 350,000 sq. ft., in a dramatic tower research facility - thus maintaining a single, central library on the University Park campus.

The new 93,000 square foot main library for Mercer University, completed in 1989, is a four-floor facility. Michaels Associates was involved from the earliest phases participating on the planning team with architect, Dunwoody & Bealand, the associate provost, Dr. Marjorie Davis and then-library director, Dumont Bunn. At each phase detailed interior layouts were provided to test the feasibility and functionality of the architectural direction. Refinements in terms of lighting, wall, door and fenestration locations were provided as well. Lighting, wiring, and furniture selection were made with expanding technologies in mind, and difficult budget constraints were satisfied by all wood, custom furniture. All tables and carrels were custom designed to complement the building's neo-Gothic architectural character and to coordinate with all other furnishings selected and specified. The deep, jewel palette enriches the interior which includes a large documents collection, a sizeable special collections and rare books complex, and a 24-hour study center. The project was completed under the direction of Ms. Mary Howard, Mr. Bunn's successor. Planning and implementation spanned the library's transition from card catalog to on-line systems.

The Fletcher Library on Arizona State University's West Campus is the focal point around which the remaining campus will be built. No building will stand taller than the 95,000 square foot library, an imposing structure of brick, glass and limestone, three stories high with a full lower-level. Michaels Associates was brought on board after the building was designed to develop furniture plans and an interiors scheme which would fulfill the program requirements and a reduced project budget - providing seats for 900 users, shelving for 300,000 volumes and workstations for 55 staff. The furnishings and equipment budget was $822,000. Dedicated in 1988, in 80,000 square feet, Library Director, Helen Gater, has brought an innovative approach to library services and has married 21st century technologies with a staff of helpful information professionals in a setting both comfortable and highly technological.

Surrounding a three-story glass-enclosed entry atrium, the Library for John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City is the centerpiece of an exciting, renovated and enlarged building of 360,000 square feet, completed in 1988. Michaels Associates worked with Chief Librarian, Eileen Rowland, and Assistant, Marilyn Lutzker, and architect, Rafael Vinoly, to first clarify and revise the program for this new facility - a novel lease-purchase, design-build award-winning project for the City University of New York. Departmental adjacencies and a stacking plan quickly followed to keep the project in its fast track mode. Complete furniture layouts were developed early on to test and refine the floor plan and later coordinated with mechanical and electrical plans to respond to the library's state-of-the-art technology. Specifications for shelving were provided for purchase as part of the general construction package.

The Bender Library and Learning Resource Center of the American University is a 93,000 square foot, four-story building dedicated in 1979. During its initial design Michaels Associates was responsible for a survey of needs, space planning, interior design and coordination of same with the architectural team. Since its completion and during the past five years, we have completed additional studies to explore the use of compact shelving for periodical back issues, to evaluate options for a major addition and to effect a variety of interior revisions. Mr. Donald D. Dennis, now retired, was the Director during the above involvements. The new director, Patricia Wand, then renewed our association with the library in implementing the reorganization and expansion of the collection on the lower level.

The William Paterson College of New Jersey embarked on a Master Planning Study to identify and prioritize the needs of the institution prior to beginning a capital construction project to resolve those needs. As part of the Master Planning Team, Michaels Associates frequently met on campus with members of the advisory group and library staff and reviewed all appropriate background data regarding the college and the library--history, profile, mission, organization plan, projections for growth etc. We surveyed the existing facility to ascertain its deficiencies and review the architect's strategies for expansion.

In 1987 Michaels Associates completed the needs assessment portion of a feasibility study to determine the adequacy of the VSL&A existing building and site to satisfy the institution's needs for the next twenty years. This outline program and space needs projection report included all foreseeable technologies, preservation considerations and departmental adjacencies. Security and preservation of many irreplaceable collections were an important part of the study. 650,000 square feet was projected for a new facility as programmed in conjunction with the State Librarian, Ella Gaines Yeates. Recently the State has opted, due to funding constraints, to construct a significantly smaller new facility capable of future expansion. The resulting report, in 1989, clarified the library's current situation comparing it to ACRL standards and New Jersey State Guidelines, developed a departmental adjacency matrix and projected space needs in each department and, in a design narrative, addressed functional and aesthetic issues for both the building interior and exterior. This report then served as the foundation for the Master Plan Resolution of Current, Intermediate and Long Term needs for the Library.

The eight public reading rooms - Geography & Maps, Manuscript, Microform, Motion Picture, Newspaper & Current Periodicals, Law, Prints & Photographs, and Recorded Sound - were designed, in color and in furnishings, to be uniquely appropriate to their subject category. State-of-the-art systems and clear sight lines were integrated into each reading room providing access to the resources of the world's premier library. Working closely with Frazer Poole, Director of Building & Planning, David and Andrea Michaels were responsible for the reading room and collection layouts, furnishings and finishes selections and specifications completed in 1973.