Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, Research library at University of Chicago, Hyde Park, United States
The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library is a research library on the University of Chicago campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood. It is recognizable by an oval glass dome that covers a ground-level reading room, with an automated underground storage facility below.
The building opened in 2011 and was designed by Helmut Jahn, a German-American architect known for his work with glass structures. It was built to solve a storage problem for the university library without taking up more space on the existing campus.
The library sits beside a large outdoor sculpture by Virginio Ferrari, which stands on the University of Chicago campus near the entrance. Students often work in the reading room beneath the glass dome, where daylight filters in from above.
Access to the reading room is generally open to University of Chicago affiliates, while outside visitors may need to check entry requirements in advance. Coming on a weekday morning tends to give a quieter view of the space and the dome above.
Books in the underground storage are stacked in metal bins, and robotic cranes can retrieve a requested item in about three minutes. This allows a very large collection to fit in a space far smaller than a traditional library stack would require.
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