Jay Dawkins: “I believe that the library is the heart, it is the beating working moving
part that keeps this campus going and gives us our edge…”
Kelli Rodgers: “ The Hunt library is an amazing example of NC State’s commitment
to innovation and to leadership in years to come…”
Jim Ceresnac: “Well I think at NC State we pride ourselves on being the cutting edge
and being revolutionary, not kind of fitting the mold and I think that’s what we’re
trying to do with the Hunt Library…”
Matt Woodward :“This is the spirit of campus…”
Chealsea Boham: “It makes me feel like a better student, it makes me want to work harder...”
“So, I love the library!”
Research parks have always been good to North Carolina. From its very beginnings, NC State’s
vision for Centennial Campus has been just as bold: Create a national model for university
research campuses where technology, innovation and collaboration can take on our greatest
problems--and spark our economy.
Centennial Campus now houses more than 130 companies, government agencies and NC State
Colleges. In 2007, it was named the top research science park of the year by the association
of university research parks.
But as the students there will tell you—the campus still seems to lack an iconic space
that both captures the spirit of the place and brings it all together as a campus.
Jay Dawkins: “I think NC State’s Centennial Campus is looking for its core, it’s looking
for its soul over there…”
Recently, work began on just such a place—the new James B Hunt Jr. Library. Scheduled for
completion in 2012, this signature building will embody the essence of Centennial Campus
as a community built around knowledge.
To complete this new library, we first chose two great architectural firms. North Carolina
based Pearce Brinkley Cease and Lee—known for its bold work on buildings like the Progress
Energy Center will act as executive architect.
Snohetta has been chosen as lead designer, on the basis of world-class, inspiring projects
like the National September 11th Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center site—and
the National Opera House in Oslo.
Matt Woodward: “Well the designs and pictures and vignettes I’ve seen of Hunt Library
are absolutely amazing…”
Kelli Rodgers: “It’s not brick, but I think it’s really exciting…”
Hunt Library will be a major factor in attracting and retaining the best faculty, students and
corporate partners. In the design of this landmark building, NC State seeks nothing
less than to create the best learning and collaborative space in the country.
Scott Lassiter: “Nowhere else would you expect to see forward thinking architecture
as NC State… So, I’m excited about that.”
The NCSU Libraries has a well-earned international reputation for creating adventurous 21st century
libraries that delight today’s students.
Since 2007, when the Libraries opened the D. H. Hill Learning Commons, visits have peaked
at 16,000 , and averaged over 10,000 a day most days.
Jim Ceresnac: “This really is the heart of student activity. Not just studying or
research, those things are hugely important, but this also a heart of student interaction,
collaboration and innovation…”
On a very practical level, Hunt Library will go a long way toward solving the huge study
seating gap at the university. Hunt Library will double seating capacity at the Libraries.
NC State can now provide library seating for less than 5 percent of students, while the
UNC system standard is 20 percent.
The NCSU Libraries has long been a bold technology incubator, making it easy for students to
get deep in the technologies driving our economy. The Hunt Library will bring that tradition
to a boil.
Jay Dawkins: “The level of technology that the Libraries brings students is astounding.
It usually takes high-end technologies that usually is reserved for professionals making
a lot of money, that, there a lot of barriers to that technology normally, and it puts that
technology into the hands of students who are being creative with it and who can take
that an put their ideas into action . . . and I think that aspect of it is incredibly powerful
and empowering for students.”
In the digital age, 21st century libraries have become the creative spaces where students
go when they get serious about getting their work done.
Every corner of the Hunt Library is designed to be a memorable, stunning place.
From the lobby, visitors will be able to watch the automated retrieval system in action as
four robots dart 50 feet up and down the building to pinpoint and retrieve materials.
More than 50 group study rooms will support intensive student collaboration.
The glass-walled Fishbowl seminar room will promote the open exchange of ideas and research.
The Skyline Reading Room will be the pinnacle of the Hunt Library, standing as one of the
highest points on campus. It will offer views of Lake Raleigh and the downtown skyline via
floor-to-ceiling windows and the terrace that opens from it.
The difference between a “good” library and a “great” library almost always comes
down to the generosity of its supporters. That edge will be critically important as
we equip Hunt Library with the spaces, collections, and technologies that will make it nothing
less than the best than the best learning and collaboration space in the nation.
Kornelius Bascombe: “We are trendsetters, you know like we have the ability to say that
we allow our students to have the best of the best. And because of that, we produce
the best of the best…”
Please consider a gift to our “Excellence in Library Spaces” fund. Or name one of
the great spaces in the new library.
Kim Bernard: “A lot of the plans that exist are really good plans. . . Those plans can’t
come to fruition without the money of the donors…” “They can be certain that a
lot of students will do a lot of thinking in whatever chairs are purchased with their
money. A lot of brilliant minds may type at the keyboard that they helped purchase.”
“That’s why donors should donate—say that to the camera…”
Chealsea Boham: “Well, I’m a proud Wolfpack member and I’d love nothing more than to
be a part of that...”