What to Read When Building a Library (or, Is That a Mastodon in the Choir Loft?).

A rchitects are frequently asked about the philosophy and evolution of their designs. The genealogies of ideas, of course, are as diverse as the ideas themselves, and are often highly personal. But architects love this question: We can not only maunder with the best of any professional group, but we also bring our own set of phrases to the work. I particularly like to think-and talk-about reading the of buildings. As we all know, you shouldn't set out to build something on a swamp. You can read that topography fairly easily, and what you read is what you get: a place inhospitable for construction. So, too, with buildings and their remodeling: If you read them carefully, they can make some decisions about design for you. These are the type of things members of my firm were thinking and talking about as we set out to design our first library. Ah, the loftiness of it all. We were to rehabilitate an old church and place within it not only the public library of the city of Cohoes, New York, but also several of the city's social service agencies. As well as the mastodon.