Profile

Cleo Rogers Memorial County Library

Columbus, Indiana
Completed 1969

Lead Designer: I. M. Pei

3-level county library with monumental sculpture and public plaza
 

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Beyond the normal functional requirements of a county library, Cleo Rogers was designed to create the first civic space in downtown Columbus, a community where distinguished examples of modern architecture abound, but in isolation, unrelated to other buildings or to the city as a whole.

In order to give focus to the center of town, the architect succeeded in the unprecedented proposal to close a city street. In consequence, the library established a vital dialogue with the historic Irwin House to the east and  Eero Saarinen's First Christian Church of 1940 on the south. The library serves as the north wall of this new urban space, reinforcing the unity of all three buildings with complementary native brick on its walls and outdoor plaza. At one end, the library's windows drop in scale to align with the eaves of the low-rise Irwin House while at the other, a heightened entrance and large-scale glazing complement and frame the more monumental church.

As none of the three buildings was powerful enough to dominate or control the space, a monumental Henry Moore bronze was introduced. Like the conductor of an orchestra, it organizes the different architectural voices, each from a different era, providing an essential focus for the first truly urban space in Columbus.

Major Components

14,000 s/f main library / reference; 7,000 s/f stack area; 6,600 children's library; 3,700 administrative offices; 1,400 s/f Library Extension�/ Public Programs Division; 600 s/f exhibition area; commissioned monumental bronze by Henry Moore; brick-paved public plaza; surface parking for 35 cars

I. M. Pei & Partners services

Complete Architectural Services; Interior Design

Structural

Weiskopf & Pickworth, New York, NY

Mechanical / Electrical

Segner and Dalton, White Plains, NY

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