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Monday, July 2, 2012

Louis Kahn Library




On Sunday I had the privilege of visiting the Philips Exeter Academy Library, in Exeter,NH with my cousin Matthew. It was design by the Famous Architect Louis Kahn. 
Although he did not have a great personal life, his building are works of modern art. 
The Library that we visited was amazing, every square foot was thoughtfully  planned out and used to it's best potential. Even though the middle of the building is an artium, open to all 6 floors, the library still has lots of space to hold the countless books and desk that are needed. Also there are private rooms on each floor and sitting areas. The desks are built into the windows. The staircases are tucked into 2 corners of the building, and one side holds 2 elevators as well. The natural light is amazing, it flows from the windows from the top of the library and from the 2 story windows on each floor. Also the O and X that appear in the Atrium are soo neat. But enough talking and here are some picture for you too see for your self. Also here is a link for you too learn more about the design and the Architect himself.








This was taken from the bottom floor looking up all 6 flight so stairs , pretty cool!




This is the other staircase on the oposite side of the building





We were able to touch books from the 1800's here, you don't get to do that often

This is looking out the top of one of those huge circles you saw in earlier pictures 

Kahn liked to see the raw edges of his building materials, so none of the concert edges were covered

Looking down the side if the X from the sixth floor 


here are the built in desks 



These are study Models found in Kahn's office 






Here are some floor plans that I found on Google images 






I added an 60's filter over this picture, since that is the time that is was built, maybe some of the first pictures of the building looked like this!



This is a really cool video of the library, make sure to watch it 


P.S. Thank you Matthew for taking me and for these pictures!
And check out my second post about Maine below.







Maine and Me Part 2







To start were I finished off was, after looking inside the stone church, it was back to the car and we hit route 1. Our next stop was Bailey Island, which is one of my favorite spots in Maine. At the end of the island ( which is called Lands End) I always look for sea glass
Well I think lots of other people found that to be a good spot as well, because there wasn't much to be found. After climbing over the bigger rocks, I did find a few good pieces to add to my collection at home. Oh we also stopped for ice cream when we were on the island. That was a yummy treat for a warm day! After leaving Bailey island, we made our way to Freeport which is the home of L.L. Bean. We visited the outlet and the main store, in all we came out with 2 pairs of flip flops (1pair for Grammy and 1 pair for me), 2 postcards, and a tee shirt. Not to bad! Our last stop was in Wells for dinner, which was at a place called Mainiax. Well of course I didn't have any seafood, but I didn't get chicken either! I got a really juicy cheeseburger! That concluded our trip to Maine. 
I had a great time and we fit in a lot in just 2 days! 
Thank you Grammy and Grandpa for taking the time to take me!
I Love you booth sooo much!!!!!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxo



This was the view from our room



These two pictures of Bailey Island are from a blog post from 2008, when we had a 
family reunion here. You can see the original post if you click on the picture above.