The second main library on NC State’s rapidly growing Centennial Campus, the Hunt Library features an iconic modern exterior and an interior filled with cutting-edge technological integration. Time magazine called Hunt Library “the library of the future.” Clark Nexsen served as Executive Architect, collaborating fully on the project design and construction with the New York office of Snøhetta serving as Lead Designer.
A bookBot automated book delivery system reduces the space needed for stacks and accommodates a two-million volume collection. A virtual browse system allows users to see a virtual shelf with items related in subject, and books can be checked out and retrieved by the bookBot and are available for pickup within a few minutes.
Generous open spaces and open stairs connect all floors of the library, while learning commons contain both open spaces with colorful furniture and more traditional, quiet study areas. Hunt Library provides 100 group study rooms including technology labs, gaming labs, media production rooms, and creativity studios. A glass-walled technology showcase on the entry level offers the latest devices and technologies available for loan to students. The library also houses a political think tank led by former North Carolina Governor James Hunt, academic offices, and an auditorium.
The 230,000 square foot facility is LEED Silver certified, with an abundance of natural lighting, solar fins, rooftop solar panels, innovative chilled beam and radiant panel systems, green roofs, and a rainwater collection system.
Media coverage has been extensive and includes Architect magazine, archdaily.com, Slate.com, PBS’s primetime series Cool Spaces, Forbes.com, Fast Company, Library Journal, Inform magazine, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Hunt Library has been honored with more than twenty awards including the international Stanford Prize for Innovation in Research Libraries (SPIRL), and three national awards for library architectural design and planning, library interiors, and education facility design.
Selected Awards (Snøhetta/Clark Nexsen)
AIA North Carolina Honor Award, 2015
AIA Triangle Honor Award, 2015
AIA CAE Education Facility Design Merit Award, 2014
ALA/IIDA Library Interior Design Best of Category, Academic Libraries over 30,000 SF, 2014
Stanford Prize for Innovation in Research Libraries (SPIRL), 2014
AIA/ALA Library Building Award, 2013
Engineering News-Record Southeast Best Higher Education/Research Project, 2013
