Analytical Presentation of The Kathleen Clay Edwards Library

The Kathleen Clay Edwards Library opened on September 10, 2004. The library was named after its benefactor Kathleen Clay Bryan Edwards, a devoted philanthropist who donated 2.5 million To Piedmont Land Conservancy to protect Price Park. This land was previously owned by Jefferson Pilot and was sited for the company club house. Edwards’s donation was in honor of her grandparents Julian and Ethel Clay Price, founders of Pilot Life Insurance. Piedmont Land conservancy holds permanent easement rights on the perk to ensure that the land is always used as a passive park. The Greensboro parks and Recreation Department oversees the maintence of Price Park where the Library is located.(http://www.greensboro/ Libraries.com)

This grand opening initiated the environmental focus of this branch. The event included a poetry reading from environmentalist and theologian Thomas Berry. Father Thomas Berry is considered an Ecotheologian. Also the T. Gilbert Pearson Audubon Society in collaboration with the city’s park and recreation department and the Piedmont Land Conservancy.
In the entrance/reception area of the library is a large cupola(a dome like structure with a polygonal base) the dome has a polygonal lantern with windows all around. This cupola is similar to the cupolas of ancient Roman temples which illuminate the space below. [1]There is a mural of wild life and nature scenes on it with verses from Thomas Berry’s poetry which state that it is the responsibility of this generation to lead the next generation in learning about the earth and its inhabitants that we would be good stewards of the earth for the sake of the next generation to come. “That it takes a universe to educate a child”, “ It takes a universe to fulfill a child”. This is just one of the verses written on this oculus.

In Thomas Berry’s latest work, The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, “Father Berry gives an historical perspective, with the environmental crises multiplying around the globe. Berry offers the alternative of deeply affirming the sacred quality of the earth”
To summarize briefly we as human beings should be good stewards of the earth and that
Everything on earth need not be tamed. We must learn to accept things in the wild as nature intended them to be that all living things have a purpose on earth. There is a huge
Conflict between developers and environmentalist. We should truly study the earth (nature itself and learn to live with it in it’s natural state that over developing the land is detrimental to all living things.
Kathleen Clay Edwards Library is the first environmental library in North Carolina with the soul purpose to educate the community about conservation of the earth. They have programs such as the master gardening program to teach about gardening and replenishing the soil. Just recently they had a Earth Day celebration. Every month the calendar is filled with activities for individuals as well as families to enjoy the outside
Area. This library is located on 93 acre Price Park. They have a bird and butterfly meadow, a reading garden, walking trails, ponds and wetlands. The Library has an extensive collection of nature gardening and environmental resources for children and adults. The architects for this building are Teague, Freyaldenhoven and Freyaldenhoven . (TFF) The architectures of this building ensured that the construction of the library was environmentally conscious and minimize the impact on the park. .A large red oak tree which was cut down was used in furniture items these were then auctioned to provide funding for the library. The library has many green building features including natural
cork flooring, carpet tiles made from recycled materials, and ply-bent wood chairs which use the most sustainable process in furniture making. Low flow toilets were installed and solar panels and a cistern system to collect rain water is used to maintain the gardens around the library grounds. The building that I compared my selection in this analysis is the Weissenhoff building in Stuttgart Germany built by Mies VanDer Rohe which was built on the international style in 1927. Other architects in the international style was Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier.

1[1] The Stalin Report, leadership in energy and environmental design.
2. www. Greensboro/libraries.com
3.www. newbuilding.co “ A Sustainable life
4.www .Thomas Berry.com
5.www. Teague, Freyaldenhoven and Freyaldenhoven.com
6. Great buildings on line-Archiplanet.com
I also phyiscally surveyed the building and the grounds itself because the cistern system was not in existence at the time of the building being in construction. This was later added on by another company.