Fleet RISD LIBRARY - Fleet Library

Rhode Island School of Design
Fleet Library at RISD
contents
2
design + renovation
4 main floor
8
10
balcony
second floor
14 context
15
access + membership
16
thank you
JOHN HORNER
highlights of new facility
• 55,000 square feet of usable space
(versus 14,000 sf in the old library)
• 90% of collection on open stacks
(versus 65% in the old library)
• a versatile Circulation Center with
a distinctive, user-friendly design
• a multifaceted Study Pavilion with
flexible workspaces
• Graham Visual Resources Center
with 685,000 holdings and dedicated
viewing rooms
• Archives and Special Collections
in climate-controlled storage, with
a large, inviting reading room
• Dale Artists’ Books Reading Room, the
first space dedicated to the study and
storage of this exceptional collection
When FleetBoston Financial Corporation donated an Italian Renaissance-style
banking hall and the floor above it to RISD in 2002, the gift presented both a remarkable opportunity and a true challenge. The college had been in search of a site to
expand its overcrowded library for over a decade, and faculty had repeatedly moved
the need to the top of the priority list. The proffered banking hall across the river
from the RISD Auditorium was breathtaking, designed in 1917 by the renowned architectural firm York & Sawyer and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
But clearly it was in need of a comprehensive design solution and substantial renovations to transform it into a vibrant art and design library for the 21st century (see
pages 2–3).
Thanks to the dedication of the many people who collaborated to redesign the space
and raise funds for the renovation, the Fleet Library at RISD now offers students,
faculty, alumni and the public ready access to its specialized collections in a majestic, yet warm and welcoming space. Through the use of innovative design, RISD has
created a stunning new home for its library equal to the caliber and scope of its
extraordinary collections.
design + renovation
Milled panels on the Study Pavilion subtly reveal
design review committee
an eclectic list of artists, architects, art historians
2003 – 2005
and others representing the fields taught at RISD.
Office dA Principal Nader Tehrani BARCH ’86
from Office dA:
helped create a palette of contemporary materi-
Nader Tehrani BARCH ’86
als that plays off the classical interior, including
principal
bolted MDF planks referencing the coffering on
Mónica Ponce de León
the vaulted ceiling and upholstery inspired by
principal
the work of Graphic Design Professor Jan Baker.
Daniel Gallagher
project architect
Arthur Chang
“RISD jumped at the opportunity to revitalize one of downtown Providence’s most
project manager
beautiful buildings as our new library. Our distinctive collections truly deserve the type
Sean Baccei
of preservation and presentation this new facility affords.” — Roger Mandle, president, RISD
from RISD:
project team member
Dima Abulhusn ’06 AR
student
core materials used
in interior design
CNC-routed Medium-
BEYOND THE BANK
To handle this sensitive assignment in adaptive reuse, President
Mandle appointed a Design Review Committee (see sidebar p.3)
to work with the Boston-based architecture studio Office dA
in transforming the grand banking hall into a highly accessible,
user-friendly library. RISD addressed the significant funding
required for the renovation by making the library a key component of the Future by Design capital campaign, one of the largest
comprehensive fundraising efforts completed by a college of art
and design. Enthusiasm for the project quickly gained momentum, especially after the decision was made to transform the
upper floors of the building into an appealing new residence
hall for 500 students. In the four years following the FleetBoston
gift, additional contributions from individuals, corporations and
foundations (see back page) helped meet the total project cost of
$11.2 million. Support from Rhode Island Congressman Patrick
J. Kennedy and the Small Business Administration also proved
pivotal in helping RISD to retrofit the space.
From the beginning, office dA principals Nader Tehrani BARCH
’86 and Mónica Ponce de León understood that creating a contemporary library within a classical building housing almost
a quarter of RISD’s students would have “a radical impact on
student life.” To make sure that impact would be a positive one,
the project team at Office dA undertook “a vast collaboration”
with the design committee to address all aspects of the complex
program in a distinctly RISD manner.
“We wanted to acknowledge the historic value of the space but
also the era we’re living in today,” Tehrani says. “From an architectural point of view, there were many issues, not least of which
was: How do you bring a space of this historic value up to code
in terms of accessibility, acoustics, lighting, seating and so forth,
but do it invisibly?”
Office dA also sought to do this sensibly and sensitively, paying
close attention to RISD’s fundamental values in upholding sustainability, honest design, care with historic preservation, respect
for tradition and the innovative use of materials. Faced with the
need to maximize the space available for stacks, seating and study
carrels, the studio also wanted to create a sense of intimacy and
comfort within the cavernous hall.
“At a certain point in the design process it became clear that we
could not fulfill the square footage requirements of the entire
program within this existing space unless some type of pavilion
or larger furnishings were placed in the banking hall,” Tehrani
says. With that in mind, the studio conceived of an innovative
combination of structural solutions, custom-designed furnishings
and a clever floor plan — all as a means of making 90,000 volumes
accessible in open stacks and providing comfortable seating for
more than 200 visitors in the main reading room alone.
The two primary structural solutions — the Study Pavilion and
the Circulation Center (see page 4) — also create intimate spaces
and add a contemporary edge to the interior, as does the selection
of materials and furnishings (see right). All in all, Tehrani notes,
“a good project is the result of a good client, not necessarily a
good designer. If people appreciate the new library as much as
we hope they will, that will be the reason why.”
GOING GREEN
In developing its materials palette, Office dA balanced issues of
sustainability with strict budget constraints and a desire to complement and accentuate the hall’s ornate architectural details.
The studio chose durable cork flooring tiles, for instance, for
their acoustic properties along with their environmentally neutral
impact and aesthetic appeal; with a naturally occurring surface
pattern akin to the swirls of the marble columns, the dark coffeecolored cork and speckled lighter tiles complement the stately,
blush-colored columns and, at the same time, provide an effective
contrast of classical and contemporary materials. Cost, durability
and newly rigorous fire codes also played into the team’s choice
of medium-density fiberboard as the material of choice to build
the two distinctive structural solutions or “architectural interventions.” Office dA designed height-adjustable workstations for the
periphery of these structures to address ergonomic issues as well.
FURNISHINGS
As a leader in art and design education, RISD is committed to
showcasing examples of top-quality design throughout campus,
including in the new library. Among the new furnishings selected
for the Fleet Library at RISD are benches on the balcony and in
the Graham Visual Resources Center designed and built by
Tucker Houlihan MFA ’02 FD, a RISD faculty member and technician. The Knoll chairs in the “living room” area of the main
reading room are upholstered with Graffito from Pallas Textiles’
Jottings Collection, inspired by the designs of Graphic Design
Professor Jan Baker. And many interior details — from the
Reference and Circulation desks to the exhibit cases and the
intricately milled panels on the sides of the pavilion — were
designed by Office dA. Throughout the library visitors will also
appreciate chairs designed by Dakota Jackson and Mies van der
Rohe, tables and chairs by Knoll, workstations by Steelcase and
lamps by Tolomeo Mega.
Density Fiberboard (MDF)
Expanko cork flooring
Russian birch plywood
brushed cold-rolled steel
Glass Fiber-Reinforced
Gypsum (GFRG)
tempered glass with
3M translucent film
Chris Bardt BARCH ’83
associate professor of Architecture
Deborah Bright
professor of Photography
Christina Hartley
director of Special Events +
Donor Relations
Nick Heywood ’08 IA
student
Brian Janes
director of Residence Life
Fran Gast
associate vice president of
Facilities Planning
(through March 2006)
James Hall MLA ’94
director of Campus Design +
Exhibitions
Paul Mullen
construction project director
Maureen O'Brien
curator of Painting + Sculpture
The RISD Museum
Liz O'Neil
director of Design Marketing
Collaborative
Joan Ress Reeves
honorary trustee
Carol Terry
director of Library Services
John Terry
dean of Fine Arts
3
main floor
Upholstered chairs in the “living room” area
and broad stairs on the Study Pavilion behind it
offer distinctly different types of seating. With
5
its interesting shape, brushed steel surface
and layered construction, the large desk in the
Circulation Center is eye-catching and eminently
practical. Study carrels under the pavilion
provide privacy and visual appeal.
“With campus housing on the floors above, the library will function like the students’
living room. It will be a much more social space – a central part of their lives.”
4
— design architect Nader Tehrani BARCH ’86, principal, Office dA
2 CIRCULATION CENTER
Located to the right of the main
entrance, the Circulation Center offers
a convenient area for general information, books on reserve and check-out.
Library staff members are available here
to answer questions and provide assistance. Industrial Design alumni Aidan
Petrie MID ’85 and Stephen Lane BID
’85 of ITEM New Product Development
in Providence provided funding for this
innovative structure, which houses several staff offices and is topped with an
open weave of fiberboard planks that
reference the coffering of the hall’s
vaulted ceiling.
3
“LIVING ROOM”+ BEYOND
With 500 RISD students housed on
the floors above and no student union
on campus, the library was designed to
function in part as a site where students
could gather outside the studio to relax
and exchange ideas. Office dA created a
sense of intimacy within the 114 x 180foot hall by clustering furnishings in
this “living room” area and other less
open spaces. From couches and lounge
chairs to large rectangular tables and
chairs, the expansive main reading
room offers a wide variety of seating
options and levels of privacy in close
proximity to its open stacks.
5 GOLDBERG CLASSROOM
Thanks to the generosity of Stephen
and Diana Goldberg, parents of Brian
Goldberg MARCH ’00, this enclosed
room offers space within the library
for instruction and class discussions.
With the Reference and Readers’
Services offices nearby, library staff
members are easily able to offer
research assistance to students
and others as needed.
1
3
Memorial Boulevard
Once a scholarship recipient herself,
Esther Chester ’41 AE has consistently
given back to RISD through the College
Annual Fund and several planned gifts.
Throughout her life she has pursued
dual passions for painting and piano
playing, and met her husband Sam
through a mutual love of music. To
honor Esther’s creative spirit and the
role RISD has played in her life, the couple made a leadership gift in support
of the innovative living and learning
center at 15 Westminster Street, which
is helping today’s students to have as
“wonderful” an experience at RISD as
she had almost 70 years ago.
entranceway
1 ESTHER CHESTER ENTRANCEWAY
2
4 STUDY PAVILION
A key component of the main reading
room, the Study Pavilion maximizes
usable space by offering different sizes
and configurations of work spaces
under, around and on top of its stepped
structure. The steps themselves also
offer bleacher-style seating and an
informal stage for readings and performances. A group study room made
possible by the generosity of alumnus
Paul M. Warner ’58 ID and another,
funded by the LEF Foundation, are
tucked underneath the pavilion,
offering private areas for small group
discussions and collaborative work.
Westminster Street
5
main floor
Professor of Philosophy Yuriko Saito (shown here
at the computer) finds the electronic and other
resources available to be invaluable, both for
class preparation and her own research. While
some students prefer to work at large tables
with task lighting, others make themselves
comfortable on the stepped Study Pavilion or
at workstations set at various heights.
“The grand architecture and sheer exuberance of the space beautifully complement our
collections and inspire our students’ creativity.” — Carol Terry, Director of Library Services, RISD
6
7 REFERENCE DESK/READERS’
SERVICES
Centrally located near the Circulation
Center, the Reference Desk is staffed at
all times to help visitors with research
and related questions. Reference and
Readers’ Services librarians offer assistance with online catalog searches, interlibrary loan requests and locating materials from the open stacks. They are also
available for individual consultations
regarding in-depth research and for
individual and group orientation
sessions on using the library.
8 MACAULAY CONFERENCE ROOM
The author of The Way Things Work and
dozens of other bestsellers, David
Macaulay ’69 AR supported the library
renovation because he recognizes the
fundamental value of a resource like
this to RISD students. The Macaulay
Conference Room, with its multimedia
presentation and video viewing equipment, was a natural for funding by the
veteran of many campus meetings, who
has served as a trustee, department
head and faculty member. As National
Campaign Chair of the Future by
Design, he led by example in both
giving and helping to raise funds for
the library, scholarships and other
fundraising priorities.
9 REEVES OFFICE OF THE
DIRECTOR OF LIBRARY SERVICES
Easy to locate, this corner office makes
the director readily accessible to students, other visitors and library staff
members. Longtime RISD Trustee Joan
Ress Reeves, a national advocate for
libraries and now an honorary trustee
at RISD, provided funding for this space
in memory of her husband, William E.
Reeves, and his parents Joseph W. and
Anne Gordon Reeves. In supporting the
director’s office, Reeves also wanted to
pay tribute to Library Director Carol
Terry, whom she helped hire in 1987.
For over a decade, the two have worked
together to find a viable solution to the
library’s space needs.
7
Memorial Boulevard
The new library offers two rooms dedicated to previewing videotapes, laser
discs and DVDs. Its growing collection
of more than 2,000 titles encompasses
the fields of animation, poetry, drama,
experimental video and art documentation as well as musical performances
and theater productions. RISD faculty
members may borrow videos for classroom use, but otherwise the collection
is available exclusively for viewing in
these two rooms.
entranceway
6 VIDEO VIEWING ROOMS
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8
9
6
Westminster Street
7
balcony
The van Beuren Periodicals Reading Balcony
provides efficient shelving for storing and displaying roughly 400 journals and magazines.
Here, students can find a comfortable perch
with a view of the Providence River and RISD
buildings beyond. Tables and chairs atop the
Study Pavilion allow for as many as 35 visitors
to take a seat overlooking the main floor.
bridge
2
READING BALCONY
Overlooking the main reading room,
this long strip of balcony offers an
ideal spot to sit and browse through
American and international magazines
and journals covering the latest developments in art, design, architecture and
culture. Thanks to the generosity of the
van Beuren Charitable Foundation, a
family foundation established by John
A. and Hope H. van Beuren and their
family, this attractive space is furnished
with comfortable lounge chairs, study
tables and well-designed shelving to
house current and recent issues of
approximately 400 periodicals titles.
2 STUDY TERRACE/BRIDGE
Support from the Pevaroff Cohn Family
Foundation allowed for the top surface
of the Study Pavilion to provide an alternative type of seating configuration,
with a series of large tables and chairs
that accommodate up to 35 students
and other visitors. At xx feet above the
ground floor, it was built to the same
level as the balcony and provides an
additional means of access to the periodicals collection — via a short glass
bridge designed by Office dA.
3 BIERMAN CONFERENCE ROOM
Recognizing the value of conference
space for staff members, interior architect and RISD alumnus Bruce Bierman
BARCH ’76 funded the Bierman
Conference Room, a lovely corner space
with large windows overlooking the
Providence River. This lounge/meeting
room offers a ceiling-mounted projector
and an adjacent restroom, making it
perfect for small group gatherings,
presentations and the preparation
of exhibitions.
1
Memorial Boulevard
1 VAN BEUREN PERIODICALS
“As a graduate student I’m really thankful to have these resources.
To be able to keep up with technology, books, videos — it’s fantastic.”
— Roger Wei MFA ’07 FD
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Westminster Street
9
second floor
Rare books, historical documents and other bits
of ephemera are housed in a large climate-controlled area on the second floor. A comfortable
Archives and Special Collections Reading Room
provides an area where visitors can explore
items from these non-circulating collections.
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2
“When our students use the library, it’s not really about finding the one book that
will essentially ‘write’ their paper for them; it’s more about having their feelers
out for a lot of different things.” — Laurie Whitehill Chong ’70 IL, Special Collections Librarian
2 ARCHIVES + SPECIAL
3 MURPHY FACULTY
COLLECTIONS
COLLECTIONS READING ROOM
COMPUTER LAB
Formerly housed at separate sites,
RISD’s Archives and Special Collections
have now been united in space designed
to accommodate their holdings. Support
from The Champlin Foundations provided for strict temperature and humidity controls to govern the shared storage
area for these sensitive materials, which
are kept in boxes, flat files and a safe
to protect especially valuable archival
materials and rare books.
Among the diverse materials in the
Archives are administrative records,
biographical files, 19th- and early 20thcentury photographs, audio- and videotapes, films, scrapbooks, historic publications (including student newspapers)
and several collections of personal
papers of individuals associated with
RISD. The 12,000 important and rare
books in Special Collections include
the Lowthorpe Collection of Landscape
Architecture books, late-19th- and early20th-century design portfolios, an
archive of graphic design and illustration holdings, and research materials in
the decorative arts. Since The Champlin
Foundations funded a dedicated Archives
and Special Collections Reading Room
— replete with large tables, plenty of
chairs and the 1937 walnut reference
desk from the old library — students
and other visitors can now fully explore
everything these lesser-known, noncirculating collections have to offer.
Thanks to RISD Trustee Stuart Murphy
’64 IL and his wife Nancy, the Murphy
Faculty Computer Lab offers a dedicated
space within the library for specialized
computer training, individual work and
class preparation. As a visual learning
specialist who creates textbooks to
explain mathematical concepts through
pictures, Murphy understands the value
of ready access to rich visual resources
as a means of supporting and enriching
studio work. The lab he named is outfitted with essential tools for today’s faculty members: four high-end workstations,
scanners and a digital projector donated
by Apple.
Memorial Boulevard
1 ARCHIVES + SPECIAL
1
1
vaulted
ceiling
1
Westminster Street
11
Collection Reading Room. The library now offers
a dedicated space for one of its most prized
collections in the Dale Artists’ Books Reading
Room, where visitors have hands-on access to
one-of-a-kind works of art like those shown
here. In the Slide Collection room around the
corner (far right), Professor Gareth Jones is
4
shown (standing) selecting images for a class.
4 GRAHAM VISUAL
RESOURCES CENTER
Wrapping the northeast corner of
the second floor, the Graham Visual
Resources Center includes both the Slide
Collection and the Picture Collection.
New York-based Trustee Cathy Graham
’76 PT and her husband Stephen were
drawn to this “incredibly wonderful
project” in part because she collects art
and design books and holds a special
fondness for libraries. “I know the old
Hospital Trust building well from my
student days at RISD when I used to do
my banking there,” she says, “and have
always thought it was an extraordinary
space.” The long, narrow room for the
Slide Collection now houses 165,000
images of art, architecture and decorative
arts and provides multiple light tables
for previewing slides. In the Picture
Collection around the corner students
and others have ready access to 470,000
circulating reference images — clippings,
photographs, mounted art prints and
other ephemera — all arranged by subject in 30 file cabinets. The facility offers
photocopying, scanning, laminating and
assistance from staff members in locating
appropriate image files. And an added
boon: the room’s original decorative
plaster ceiling was uncovered and
restored as part of the renovation.
5 TECHNICAL SERVICES AREA
This section of the second floor, offlimits to visitors is equipped with workstations for staff members who enter
data and order, receive, catalogue, label
and mend collection materials. The
behind-the-scenes work that takes place
here is essential to keeping the collections circulating and in good shape.
6 DALE ARTISTS’ BOOKS
READING ROOM
As students, RISD Board of Trustees
Chair Clara M. Dale BARCH ’75 and her
husband John Dale, Jr. BARCH ’75 both
frequented the former RISD library for
inspiration. With their gift to the Future
by Design campaign, they chose to support the library renovation because they
wanted to help open this valuable
resource to a broader public. The reading room named for them is the firstever dedicated space for the study and
storage of RISD’s extraordinary collection of 1,200 artists’ books, objects and
zines. It will enable students and other
artists, educators and researchers interested in this genre to explore these individual works of art in a comfortable,
well-lit setting.
4
Memorial Boulevard
second floor
A decorative ceiling adds character to the Picture
vaulted
ceiling
“The material is visible and accessible in the new
library. I see what interests me and feel there’s a lot
more behind what’s on view, which makes me want
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to ask more.” — Patrizia Pilosi MFA ’07 GD
Westminster Street
13
Carol Terry appreciate the value of their holdings
to RISD students and scholars in various fields.
The Fleet Library at RISD now occupies the first
ELIZABETH EDDINS ’00 GD
context
Chong ’70 IL and Director of Library Services
two floors of the former Rhode Island Hospital
Trust bank building, which was recently renovated
as a residence hall for 500 RISD students. Across
the lobby from the library, the 110-seat Portfolio
Café offers a comfortable spot to eat and relax.
“Even though there is a heavy focus on the visual and haptic aspects of working
“I loved the old library, but the
in the studio, books and research are very much at the heart of learning at RISD.”
layout of this one is fantastic.
— John Dunnigan MFA ’80 ID, professor and head of Furniture Design
It’s a lot better for everyone.”
— Laura Worrick MFA ’08 IL
access + membership
Special Collections Librarian Laurie Whitehill
A BRIEF HISTORY
LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS AT DEDICATION
BORROWING PRIVILEGES
MEMBERSHIP
legacy of leadership
Since its founding in 1878, the library has been an essential
resource for students. Then, all of its holdings fit in a single
bookcase; by 1909, however, the library had expanded to occupy
two rooms and its collection had grown to include more than
2,000 books, 6,000 photographs and 300 lantern slides.
James Hadley Billington, America’s Librarian of Congress, will
deliver the keynote address at the dedication of the Fleet Library
at RISD on Saturday, October 7 at 4:30 pm. A graduate of
Princeton University, Billington was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford
University, where he earned his doctorate. He taught history at
Harvard and Princeton for almost two decades before becoming
director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
in 1973. Since being sworn in as the nation’s lead librarian in
1987, Billington has championed a variety of online services that
make the Library of Congress collections more accessible to the
public worldwide. He has also written five books, including The
Face of Russia (1998), the companion book to a three-part TV
series by the same name that he wrote and narrated for PBS.
Library materials circulate to all members
of the campus community (RISD and
Brown students, faculty, staff) as well as
Providence Athenaeum members. Since
the collection includes a range of visual
resources and rare books and objects,
certain items cannot circulate and are
restricted to on-site use.
Visitors outside the campus community
can borrow books by buying a library
membership. Annual fees are:
Since the library hired its first
director in 1909, it has enjoyed
stability of leadership, with only
nine head librarians in 97 years
(RISD itself has had 16 presidents
since its founding in 1877). Carol
Terry, the current director of
Library Services, recently
became the longest-serving
head librarian in RISD’s history.
In 1937 the library moved to RISD’s newly built College Building
on Benefit Street, where it had ample space — roughly 12,000
square feet — to house its collection of 12,000 books and bound
periodicals. The charming Reading Room on the second floor
became a favorite spot of generations of RISD students. However,
the library’s collections continued to grow along with the college
itself and by the late 1990s it was noticeably overcrowded, with
almost a third of its holdings needing to be stored off-site.
Locating a site to build a larger library had become a daunting
challenge but also a top priority at RISD — one that in 1998 was
incorporated into the fundraising goals of the Future by Design
campaign. In 2002, when FleetBoston agreed to offer RISD a
portion of its former bank building, the site issue was finally
resolved and fundraising began in earnest to meet the costs of
renovating the space.
Now that the Fleet Library at RISD provides nearly four times the
space available before, all of the collections have been consolidated into a single, convenient center for research and study. These
collections offer unusual depth and richness in the areas of art,
design, architecture and photography, providing strong historical and contemporary perspectives on the broad range of disciplines taught at RISD.
JENNY HOLZER PRESENTS FOR RISD
Internationally known conceptual artist and RISD alumna Jenny
Holzer MFA ’77 PT is commemorating the dedication of the new
Fleet Library at RISD with a site-specific light projection that will
be shown after dusk on October 7, 8, 9 and 10, 2006. Called For
RISD, the piece will feature an ongoing series of messages in the
form of poetry and writings of her own, selected specifically
for the RISD context. Projected words will stream across the
riverfront facade of the 15 Westminster Street building and
Providence City Hall from approximately 7 pm to 1 am each
evening. Like the projections Holzer has done all over the world
— in Vienna, Venice, London, Dublin, New York, Paris, Berlin,
Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro — this one is expected to attract
plenty of attention and will serve as a fitting tribute to a community resource that champions the written word. On Wednesday,
October 11, the artist will culminate her visit to RISD by delivering the annual Gail Silver Memorial Lecture at 6:15 pm in the
RISD Auditorium.
LIBRARY ACCESS
Because the Fleet Library at RISD is
housed beneath a student residence
hall, everyone entering the building
must check in at the Public Safety desk
just inside the door. A photo ID or one
of the following cards must be presented:
• RISD alumni card
• Fleet Library at RISD membership card
• $25 special rate for RISD alumni,
Continuing Education students, Rhode
Island K–12 art teachers (NEA-RI
members)
• $100 individual
• $125 nonprofit (transferable among
four individuals, but one person must
be designated as responsible for use of
the card and each card admits only one
person at any given time)
• $225 corporate (transferable among
four individuals, but one person must
be designated as responsible for use of
the card and each card admits only one
person at any given time)
• CRIARL (Consortium of Rhode Island
• $1,000 corporate sponsor (four indi-
Academic and Research Libraries) card
vidual cards; private receptions may be
booked in the library)
• Providence Athenaeum card
• Brown University ID
For more information about library
memberships, policies and procedures,
go to www.risd.edu/library.
1909–11
Eliza Buffington
1911–29
Mary Shakespeare Puech
1929–42
Evelyn Chase
1942–46
Ruth V. Noble
1946–48
Barbara Sessions
1948–55
Jeanne MacCready Borden
1955–70
Alice McGrath
1970–82
Jeanne MacCready Borden
1982–87
James A. Findlay
1987–
Carol S. Terry
15
thank you
Many people worked very hard over the past decade to find a suitable home for RISD’s library
and to transform what was once a private bank into a public destination. Although we cannot
acknowledge everyone who has played a role in making the Fleet Library at RISD a reality,
special thanks are due to the following individuals, corporations and foundations whose
generosity enabled the college to dedicate this stunning new space on October 7, 2006.
Fleet Library at RISD
15 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
p 401 709–5900
f 401 709–5903
risdlib@risd.edu
PROJECT DONORS
LEF Foundation
DESIGN ARCHITECT
Anonymous
Joan + James Macaulay
Office dA, Boston, MA
Apple Computer, Inc.
Joseph Melo
Bruce Bierman BARCH ’76
Nancy + Stuart Murphy ’64 IL
Ronald Binks ’56 PT
Ruth Murray ’90 IL +
David Macaulay ’69 AR
The Champlin Foundations
Esther ’41 AE + Sam Chester
Lisa Pevaroff Cohn ’83 TX
Melanie + Peter Cross
Clara BARCH ’75 +
John Dale, Jr. BARCH ’75
Nancy + Dana Newbrook ’63 AR
Elena Pascarella BLA ’75
Donald Perry
Aidan Petrie MID ’85
Paul Pietz BARCH ’74
Nell Daniel ’92 PH
Joan Ress Reeves
Fleet Boston Financial Corporation
Pamela Richardson ’78 TX
Rosalie ’59 GD + Corwin Frost ’59 AR
Steven Schwartz
Judith Funkhouser ’63 IL
Small Business Administration
Garden Holmes Management Co.
Sandra Smith BARCH ’69
Diana + Stephen Goldberg
Carol Terry
Cathy ’76 PT + Stephen Graham
John Terry
David Greenewalt Charitable Trust
Lisa MA ’76 +
Chris Van Allsburg MFA ’75 SC
Kathryn + James Heffernan
Joan Kokkins Herron ’64 GD/MFA ’98
Stephen Lane BID ’85
van Beuren Charitable Foundation
Paul Warner ’58 ID
Jane + Stephen West
Patricia White ’64 IL
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID O’CONNOR UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED
project leaders:
Nader Tehrani BARCH ’86, principal
Mónica Ponce de León, principal
Daniel Gallagher, project architect
Arthur Chang, project manager
project team:
Ghazal Abassy
Sean Baccei
Kurt Evans
Anna Goodman
Monday–Thursday
8:30am–11pm
Friday
8:30am–8pm
Saturday
10am–6pm
Sunday
12–11pm
closed
Thanksgiving and
Christmas
Lisa Huang
Ahmad Reza Schriker
CONSTRUCTION MANAGER
Shawmut Design and Construction
Matt Dempsey, project manager
CAMPUS COORDINATOR
Paul Mullen, construction project
director, RISD
www.risd.edu/library