Public Library, Columbia, Mo.

April 4, 2003

COLUMBIA, Mo. – There’s nothing ordinary about the renovation of this public library.
By choosing to expand the existing library, the designers faced the dual problems of creating a significant civic building on a constrained site, and also integrating it into one of the community’s well-established neighborhoods.
Designers Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates were up to the challenge, however, utilizing two types of native Missouri stone in the process to give weight to the project and provide a decorative façade.
As with many public projects, the process involved in building the 100,000 ft² addition began a decade ago, says Elinor Barrett, the librarian who oversaw the project for the client. At that time, a program study was completed, followed by a feasibility study.
The approximately 50,000 ft² original building went up in the late 1960s, but growth in the library’s collection and staff additions took up space originally dedicated to other public uses. Nor was that the only problem with the existing structure.
“Seating space for the public, more area for the collection, meeting space for community use and also for the library to present programs were all big concerns for us,” Barrett says. “We also needed to update our building systems. We were completely maxed out in terms of electrical capacity. We couldn’t add computers, and the last four months we were in the building we didn’t have air conditioning.”
By April 1998, the library issued a request-for-proposals. Barrett says approximately 100 firms that advertise in library trade journals received an RFP, and ads went into St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia newspapers.
From the responses, the library’s board selected Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates. The New York firm’s project list includes more than 50 libraries around the United States, and Barrett says the architects seemed the best fit for the Columbia project, based on their experience and expertise.
The architects updated the library’s previous research, completed a site review, and began developing conceptual designs for the board’s building committee to evaluate. During that time, Barrett says the committee first became aware of the designers’ practice of trying to use stone indigenous to the local geographic area.
“We learned that masonry is one of their specialties,” she says. “Early on, they said that they would like to use stone, and they began touring the area to see what types of stone had been used in other buildings in Columbia and in central Missouri.”
Nestor Bottino, principal architect for Hardy Holzman on the project, says that – from his perspective – native stones offered a good solution to the problem of integrating the parking and structure in a single design element that works well with the neighborhood.
“We decided on a circular plan for the site,” he explains. “Half that circle – the south side – became the parking, and the north half became the library building itself. We used stone to form the outer circle. Then, for the portions of the building that didn’t form the outer ring, we decided to use a different type of stone so it would have its own distinct characteristics.”
For the outer circle, the architects and client opted to use Missouri red granite, quarried from an area 125 miles southeast of Columbia near Elephant Rocks State Park. Barrett says that the stone is used extensively in central Missouri. Granicor Inc. of St. Augustin, Quebec, furnished 18,675 ft² of Missouri Red Granite in split-face, quarry-face and thermal finishes.
For the stone portions of the exterior not in that outer circle, the decision was made to go with Missouri sandstone that Bottino describes as, “white, with orange and red veining in it.”
He explains that the sandstone had extensive use as a facing for commercial buildings in Columbia in the 1950s. Research by the library staff revealed that the stone came from a quarry approximately 65 miles south of Columbia near St. James, Mo. that recently reopened after being closed for several years.
“It was getting ready to reopen when our architects went down and visited and brought back some samples for the board to review,” says Barrett, adding that the owner had attended the University of Missouri in Columbia and was pleased to have his stone used on the library.
“It was being used in small quantities,” says Bottino. “But, after talking to him, the owner was interested in excavating larger quantities, and he worked with a more-established fabricator in cutting the stone for us.”
The architects completed a conceptual design for the library in December 1998, and the following April funding for the project – in the form of a bond issue – was approved by voters. Construction documents were issued for the renovation in May 2000, and actual work on the project began in September of that year.
As part of a public-bid process, St. Louis-based KCI Construction Co. got the nod as the general contractor.
“It was clear KCI is a very serious company,” says Bottino. “Even though they didn’t have a lot of experience with stone masonry, they were experienced with brick installations. We felt they understood the construction process well enough that they would be good to work with.”
Experience with brick installations was also an important consideration, because two other key components of the design are a clay block spine wall for the structure, and exterior glass blocks that – with the stone – give the structure a lantern-like appearance when lighted at night.
KCI, in turn, selected the subcontractors, including the masonry sub, Wulff Brothers Masonry Corp. of Columbia.
“We’d heard of Wulff Brothers because there aren’t that many stone installers in that part of Missouri, and I think there are only two in Columbia,” says Bottino. “Wulff had been mentioned to us before as having the ability to do this work, and that was the case.”
Harry “Doc” Wulff believes his firm was hired mainly because of its ability to cast the glass blocks, at considerable savings to the project. However, the job presented other challenges as well, since the stone walls are both decorative and functional.
Bottino explains that the sandstone face includes two types of blocks. The normal face of the wall is made up of blocks 12” tall and 18”-36” in length with a split face. However, four bands that run horizontally through the face are made up of smooth-sawn pieces that stand up like a soldier course but are slightly pivoted from the normal face.
“You get a zigzag arrangement of stone,” explains Bottino. “Those four bands also organize the windows on that side of the building.”
The project also incorporates different lighting types on both walls. On the sandstone, the lights are set into the stone so it spills out on the contrasting faces of the split face and smooth stone.
The granite presented an even larger challenge to the Wulff Brothers’ crew; in order to provide some variety along its 40’ height, the architect opted to use three different sizes of stone. Bottino explains the primary blocks are 12” high and varied in length from 18”-42” with a split face. Periodically, those are broken by 2’ ashlar bands made up of 2”, 4” and 6” blocks, again with a split face.
“Then, because we didn’t want the scale of this to get too small – we wanted to have some shift – we incorporated the faces of quarry blocks,” says the architect. “Typically they’re about 3’ tall and 5’-7’ in length; some of them still have the drill marks where they were extracted from the quarry, and they’re sprinkled throughout the façade in the main body of the granite wall.”
However, he explains the placement of those blocks is critical, both for impact and to provide the most contrast with the rest of the façade.
It was the placement of those quarry blocks that initially proved a challenge for the installers, since Bottino says they presented an unusual size and dimension. And, when they’re used, they’re typically installed as dressed pieces and the installers have a clear idea of how they’re fitting with the rest of the project.
“The fact that we wanted them to be very rough and just out of the quarry, and we that also wanted them to project slightly ahead of the normal face of the wall, was something they didn’t understand initially,” Bottino says. “It took a couple tries to get them in the right place.”
Wulff agrees that there were some problems off the bat with the granite part of the structure, although those weren’t the only stone-related issues his company dealt with.
“Once they figured out where they wanted control joints, the granite went well,” Wulff says. “With the sandstone we had a lot of problems as far as the quarry was concerned getting stuff out to us when we needed it, but that’s part of the game.”
However, he says those problems pale compared to his company’s struggles with the interior clay blocks.
“This is the first time anybody’s laid any clay units like this for probably 40 years; they were totally out of dimension and we couldn’t seem to do anything with them,” he says, adding, “There were just a lot of things with this job that we don’t do every day.”
Jon Schenk, the project manager for KCI, says Wulff had a crew on the job for most of the project.
“The project was originally supposed to be an 18-month one, and it ended up being about 22 months,” Schenk says. “The masonry work began during the winter of 2000-2001, and they finished the masonry part in August 2002. We turned it over about six weeks after they finished the masonry.”
Although the library staff did some limited move-in to the new space last July, actual possession took place in September. Barrett says reaction so far to the building and its use of different stones is mixed.
“A lot of people really like the sandstone, and I think that’s because it’s lighter,” she says. “I’m not getting nearly as much positive reaction to the Missouri red granite, which surprises me. You tend to see it polished, and it’s taking people awhile to get used to what they’re seeing and to understand what they’re seeing.”
Still, there’s little doubt on how the library staff sees their new quarters.
“We absolutely love it,” Barrett says.

Client: Columbia Public Library, Columbia, Mo.
Designer: Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, New York
Contractor: KCI Construction Co., St. Louis
Masonry Subcontractor: Wulff Brothers Masonry Corp., Columbia, Mo.