Tour Four: Ayala Science Library

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The Science Library opened in 1994, 2 years after the death of its master architect Sir James Stirling. The building was dedicated to Donald Bren professor of Biological Sciences Fransisco J. Ayala, who was awarded numerous prizes in his work in evolutionary biology. A notable award given to Ayala is the Templeton Award, which he donated all $1.5 million to the campus via graduate fellowships supporting the biological sciences. The Ayala Science Library hosts one of the largest consolidated science, technology, and biomedical libraries in the nation. It supports research and instruction in science, medicine, and technology including astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, Earth System Science, engineering, mathematics, medicine, and physics. More than 2,000 individual study spaces, faculty and graduate reading rooms, 50 group study rooms, and a late-night study center are available, as well as a state-of-the-art Multimedia Resources Center with multimedia production software and video equipment, a computer laboratory, an instruction center, and a digital media production laboratory.

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Sir James Stirling was born in 1926 in Glasgow, Scotland, and died in 1992 in London. He created buildings in the brutalist style in his early career such as the Flats at Ham Common, his first work in collaboration with fellow architect James Gowan. In the 1970s, Stirling expanded into the United States in order to gain worldwide exposure, completing buildings like the expansion for the Rice University of Architecture in Houston, Texas and Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. His architectural style changed from brutalist to neoclassical but rooted in modernism. The Science Library is part of this series of work.

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The overall shape of the Ayala Science Library some what looks like the USS enterprises from star trek

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Architecture

The architecture for this building was considered modernism and we see the play of geometrical shapes throughout the whole building, which was very cool.

11 thoughts on “Tour Four: Ayala Science Library

  1. I’ve already spent a great deal of time in Ayala, and I enjoyed the tour especially because of this. It was nice to understand more of the history behind the building, as well as some of the unique features like the column in the middle of the walkway. Indeed, the tour indicated that the building looked almost like a prison, which I hadn’t considered before, and which I now think about whenever I’m in there.

  2. I definitely enjoyed this tour, although the timing was bad due to finals which were around the corner at the time of the tour. I have to admit, I never really gave this building much attention. I knew it looked interesting and all but it wasn’t until the tour that I began to realize all the fascinating features this building contained.

  3. It was a very interesting building and I really liked the architecture of the building. I go by this building every day and after your tour I see it in a whole different way.

  4. I think this building is one of the most spectacular structures on campus. The front entrance is simply breathtaking in its grandeur. Aside from the front though the building is very bland and it is as if they used up all their creativity on the main entrance. The inside is very nice and has study rooms with awesome views of campus and the surrounding environment. Also the open center of the building is very cool little place and has a neat view of the building.

  5. An interesting fact: the spoke from ring road and the center of the science library aren’t in line! I actually very much enjoyed the tour, and the bit about the star ship. The acoustics of the center of the plaza was very interesting. Also, was the circle a motif? That was the most interesting part of the building; it was rather aesthetically pleasing. The bit about the little panes on the edge of the roof was also interesting as well.

  6. Definitely one of the most unique libraries I have seen and an especially prominent building that rests along the circle of Ring Road and nestled within an intersection of science buildings. The part I found interesting was how some parts of the building had large windows facing out while other parts only had tiny windows to look out from. Aside from that, I did enjoy realizing that three entryways were blocked by oddly placed pillars.

  7. One of the best if not the best tour in my perspective. In Ayala, I was able to recognize how our current generation is trying to revolutionize the “library”. Therefore I came about empty bookshelves that were intentionally designed to complement the stereotypical library. However, Ayala itself is undergoing a revolutionized structure in which a Greek design (yet stumpy results such as the pillars blocking doorways) is attempted.

  8. I probably spend more time in Ayala than I do in my apartment and yet I’ve never taken the time to analyze the building. Hundreds of students visit Ayala on a daily basis, but the vast majority don’t even consider how much effort was put into building the library. This tour was a fantastic opportunity to get a better feel for the building. I find the sides of Ayala to be most unattractive with it’s little prison sized windows. But the center of the library is most beautiful, especially at night time when all is silent and light emerges from the larger sized windows. The website provides pictures of various buildings, which is great but also might be confusing to some people. An individual wouldn’t know which picture is of Ayala library unless he or she has been there before to see it.

  9. One of the most interesting things about the Science Library is that it is probably one of the most prominent structures on campus, having a powerful entrance, an intimidatingly high courtyard housing the entrances of the library, and the lack of windows in the back side of the building. It is also very interesting that all of the entrances are blocked by pillars!

  10. Veronica Magana, I had the same question myself. However, I am pretty sure the purpose of the building was to keep anybody from being distracted by the events and activities happening around the campus, but there some places that allowed you to study and watch the outside world also.

  11. Well overall your tour was interesting. Yes, it was also a hard building because it was really hard to here due to us being inside the library. Also, I ask a question knowing that they would make a “circle building wouldn’t have they known that this was probably a not a good idea to construct it this way due to echoes and a library has to be silent so overall maybe this building was nice but overall I think they did a really bad job designing it. The outside just looks like a prison witch doesn’t make one like the building if there seeing it from a different location.

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