Mount Angel Library - Alvar Aalto
1. Project Name Mount Angel Abbey Library
2. Architect Alvar Aalto
3. Client Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon
4. Date 1966 – 1970
5. Location 45°03'28.5"N 122°46'32.2"W
2. Architect Alvar Aalto
3. Client Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon
4. Date 1966 – 1970
5. Location 45°03'28.5"N 122°46'32.2"W
THE ARCHITECT
Alvar Aalto was a Finnish architect whose career spanned the majority of the 20th century. He is held in the esteem of many as one of the vanguards of the modern movement. The fact that Aalto grew up in Finland meant by the time he was beginning his architectural education he would have had a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic nature of daylight. Also, given the fact that His architectural training took place between 1917 and 1921, it is likely many of his instructors were well versed in designing for daylight and thus influenced him accordingly. During his early career, it has been noted that Aalto was captivated mainly by electric lighting, as was the case with many of his peers at the time. However, as his career progressed, he gradually became more interested with natural light as daylighting plays a significant role in many of his later projects, including the Mount Angel Library. Virginia Cartwright notes “It has been noted that Aalto’s architecture can be considered typologically … It is appropriate therefore to study Aalto’s lighting strategies typologically, and chronologically trace the evolution of the characteristics of the apertures and their spatial disposition.”
THE LOCATION
THE SITE
Mount Angel Abbey is a private seminary of the catholic Benedictine tradition located in western Oregon, halfway between the town Mt. Angel and Silverton, and about thirty kilometers from the city of Salem. The abbey itself is located on a promontory in the otherwise flat landscape. Originally established in the 1890’s, the institution had grown considerably by the mid twentieth century and was thus undergoing a program for expansion, part of which involved the construction of a new library. Fr. Barnabas Reasoner had reached out to Aalto in the early 1960’s inviting him to take on the project which he accepted enthusiastically. However, despite initial enthusiasm, the initial years of the project were dogged with delays. Aalto, Despite being nearly seventy years of age, was still an incredibly busy architect; in 1966 he had over thirty projects in the works, twelve of which were in the construction phase. At the time it was considered a bit unusual for Aalto to take the commission in Oregon. Most of Aalto’s completed work had been concentrated in Scandinavia and Europe and to date, the Oregon library is only one of only four projects Aalto undertook in the Americas, and one of only 3 still existing. It is understood that Aalto took on the Mount Angel Abbey project for two main reasons. First, he had a passion for designing libraries. Fr. Barnabas reported being told that “Libraries are his pets”. Additionally, the Mount Angel site Possessed similar qualities to many of the site’s he worked on in northern Europe in terms of both climate and daylight quality. Mount angel experiences a very high percentage of either partial or complete cloud cover with only nineteen percent of days being classed as “clear”. It’s likely Aalto was enthused by such site conditions given their relative familiarity, after all, as Giedion writes “Finland is with Aalto wherever he goes”.
THE PROJECT
Aalto’s “Oregon Project” can be considered exceptional daylight design. Firstly, it is site specific. When Fr. Barnabas visited Aalto’s studio in 1966, Aalto confessed that he had refused commission of another library project until the Oregon project was completed. His reason: he wanted to ensure all design solutions were logically worked through for the specific issues of the site. Had he taken commission of another library building it would have created a situation where designers in the studio would have potentially been able to copy solutions from one project to another which was fundamentally against Aalto’s design philosophy. Aalto’s design is also fundamentally sympathetic to the functions of the space. A its core, the primary function of a library space is reading, However, through his lighting design, Aalto manages to extend some of his Finnish expression into the Oregon project. In Finland, public libraries are not just a space which gathers and distributes knowledge, in fact they play an integral role in everyday life. Despite the relative openness of the building’s interior. Aalto composes a series of lighting zones which serve to divide the functions of each space; the lobby is awash with intense daylight through the use of conical skylights which is in contrast to the space which immediately follows as one progresses towards the loans desk. This transition space is instead defined by a relatively low and dark ceiling which, on the surface, may seem like a foolish decision if Aalto’s only goal were to maximise daylight penetration. However, the decision a calculated one which serves to increase the emphasis put on the loans desk, lit by a single conical skylight, elevating its status as the libraries command module.
Moving through the space, the next lighting element which Aalto uses to divide the space is a large Curved roof monitor. Situated over a triple height space with mezzanine, the roof monitor creates something of a grand “reading well” which is lit from above not only to facilitate reading but also to create a certain hierarchy, defining the reading space as the core of the building. The building also makes use of side lighting with external louvres to reduce glare and increase diffusion, successfully illuminating the stacks of books. The majority of the spaces in the library receive light from at least two sources which reduces the capacity for shadows. Additionally, Aalto’s intention was to ensure that no direct sunlight entered the space to functionally eliminate glare, something which is of particular importance in library design. According to testimonies of frequent users of the library, the final design facilitates this intention perfectly. The ultimate test for the lighting design of the building came in 1996, as a result of a storm the seminary campus ended up losing power. While most of the workers were dismissed, the library building continued operating as it was the only building on campus that that was able to function in complete absence of electric lighting
FURTHER READING
1. General Architecture: Container of Light [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: http://rick-generalarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/11/container-of-light.html
1. General Architecture: Container of Light [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: http://rick-generalarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/11/container-of-light.html
2. Good N. Learning From A Library [Internet]. 2001 [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: https://www.nathangoodarchitects.com/files/edcmag_july01.pdf
3. Gruzewski Bachelor J. FORM AND DAYLIGHT AS A CREATIVE MEDIUM. 1991.
4. Norvasuo M. Designing Properly Lit Homes The Question of Daylight and Electric Light in the Housing. Technol Everyday Life. 2010;16(November 2015):179–200.
5. Cartwright V. Themes of Light : Aalto ’ s Libraries from Viipuri to Mt . Angel. Alvar Aalto Res Netw. 2012;
6. Alvar Aalto’s Pacific Northwest Gem - Dwell [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 27]. Available from: https://www.dwell.com/article/alvar-aaltos-pacific-northwest-gem-3739cc3d
7. Reasoner B. Fr. Barnabas’ Helsinki Report. 1966.
8. Giedion S. Alvar Aalto: Elemental and Contemporary. In: Space Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition. 1941. p. 565–605.
9. Vallaster T. Alvar Aalto’s Libraries. 2016;1–7.
10. PLEA 2013 - Sustainable Architecture for a Renewable Future. In: INTRODUCTION The Mount Angel Abbey Library [Internet]. München; 2013. Available from: https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/doc/1169237/1169237.pdf
