Two University of Texas at Austin professors needed lots of highly organized storage in a place where they could comfortably burn the midnight oil. Their colleague and practicing architect, Lawrence Speck, came to their aid with this 1,000-square-foot home library. “They have a huge number of books that both of them read, know, and use regularly,” he says. “It was very much about accommodating the books.”
For space that would be utilitarian rather than devoted to display, Speck looked to institutional libraries for layout advice. The room’s library stacks may be traditional, but the fireproof materials Speck chose give the space a light, contemporary feeling. Glazed tiles take color cues from the heavily wooded site while steel and concrete make up the noncombustible construction materials. Even the bookshelves are metal.
The library stacks form cozy alcoves along the sides of the room. A long nave, towering to 18 feet at its peak, funnels natural light into the flanking alcoves through a series of syncopated clerestory windows. Cutouts in the Galvalume-clad walls allow even more light to filter into the book nooks. The owners frequently camp out in the library when deadlines loom or visitors stay over (they prefer to let guests have the main house) so three alcoves are allocated to cooking, sleeping, and bathing. Builder: Bill Aery, Austin, Texas; Architect: Lawrence W. Speck Associates, Austin; Photographer: Greg Hursley.
