The Mt. Angel library designed by Alvar Aalto in the 1960's is the kind of building you could bump into before you know it is architecture. Situated on the quadrangle of a Benedictine monastery, it presents a one-story, almost non-descript facade, perhaps out of deference to landscape and the scenography of the other campus buildings.
From the moment you enter the library, however, you can start to understand how the Finnish master has worked to ease you into not just a functional space, but an environment sensitively conceived for quiet study. It starts with a 'handshake'. The custom door pulls designed by Aalto are easily grasped and a welcome encounter.
Once inside, a generous lobby functions as a sound lock separating the outside world from the reading area, as well as a means to access different functional areas of the building. A curvilinear slatted structure forms a coat rack while screening the entrances to the restrooms. I imagine snowy boots, scarves, umbrellas all finding a place there.
Passing from the lobby into the reading area, the circulation desk occupies a central location. From this hub, the stacks and ancillary rooms are fanned out radially. You can see almost everything at a glance. It is such a great pleasure to find one's way intuitively through a building on a first visit. No signage, no questions - just pure unmediated experience.
Beyond function, the most striking aspect is the light quality inside. This is achieved through various means. First, the fan shape of the building allows a reach toward the light of the northern sky through high windows. Very little direct sun can enter with this configuration due to its orientation. Individual windows and smaller walls of glass bring light in laterally and allow views out.
But the 'piece de resistance' is the curved clerestory scooped out of the ceiling. The light hits the plaster soffits at millions of angles of incidence, bouncing about, softening, and almost descending perfectly to land on the page you are reading. Light handled in this manner is almost a transcendent thing. There is just no struggle to focus the eyes or discern shapes; your awareness is heightened and can then be shifted to the task at hand - studying. What better accomplishment for a library?
