Unique design offered for new science center

University proposes a five-level, 85,000-square-foot building featuring a central tower with bold, curved shapes and accompanying wings.

By: Jennifer Potash
   Princeton University’s campus includes examples of every major period of American architecture — Georgian, Greek revival, modern, post-modern and Collegial Gothic.
   Soon it also may have "Gehry Gothic," as in the renowned architect Frank Gehry, who has designed the university’s proposed new science center and library near Ivy Lane and Washington Road in Princeton Borough.
   The design proposes a five-level, 85,000-square-foot building featuring a central tower with bold, curved shapes and accompanying wings. The 100-foot-tall tower is two-thirds the height of adjacent Fine Tower.
   University officials presented the project for a concept review at the Princeton Regional Planning Board on Thursday night. It will have to return to the planners for a formal site-plan review.
   Mr. Gehry, who won the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest award, in 1989, designed the bold, sculptural, titanium-clad building that houses the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, in 1997.
   Princeton University commissioned Mr. Gehry to build the science library, which will be supported by a $60 million gift from trustee Peter Lewis. The new building also will provide classrooms and study areas for students, said Amy Gutmann, Princeton University provost.
   An amorphous building may seem an odd choice on a campus with lots of traditionally shaped brick buildings, but the new science library would carry familiar themes of campus architecture, said Craig Webb of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Gehry Partners and project designer for the library.
   Mr. Webb, a Princeton University graduate, said the wings flanking the tower would reflect the design of the nearby Center for Jewish Life and the brick base of the building, a warm, deep-red color, would mirror the bricks of the nearby Prospect Avenue buildings.
   "We want to be a good neighbor," he said. "We want to do something that is special for the university and the town."
   Planning Board members received the proposed library warmly and were excited about the prospect of a Gehry building in Princeton. As with most concept reviews, the board members were concerned about this project’s provision for parking, pedestrian walkways and light spillage.
   Princeton Borough Councilwoman Wendy Benchley, also a member of the Planning Board, called the design "heart-stopping."
   The unusual shape and materials — at first glance the library would resemble a pile of haphazardly stacked boxes — generated questions about locations for a loading dock and whether the stainless steel would create too much glare from the sun.
   "The reason we use metal is these buildings are more sculptural," Mr. Webb said. "The sculptural aspect of the building is about implying movement."
   The library would use the loading dock of the adjacent Fine building and bring books and other supplies in through an underground passageway. The steel would have a special coating to all but eliminate glare, Mr. Webb said.
   A new series of walkways, aimed at bringing students away from heavy traffic on Washington Road, would culminate at the entrance to the science library, Mr. Webb said.
   The building would consolidate other university departments and science collections now scattered through the campus, said Jon Hlafter, director of the university’s planning office.
   Construction is slated to start in 2004 so the building could open in the fall of 2006, Mr. Hlafter said.
   The public would not have access to the science library itself, but would be able to walk through the building and enjoy refreshments at the café, university officials said.
   Princeton Borough Mayor Marvin Reed, a member of the Planning Board, suggested the university consider some parking spaces on Ivy Lane as the building would likely generate a lot of visitors.