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Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast » South Central Texas » San Antonio (Bexar County) » Outer North and West San Antonio » Great Northwest Branch Library

Great Northwest Branch Library

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1994, Lake/Flato Architects. 9050 Wellwood St.

The library is an effective design where the firm makes extensive use of its favorite idiom, the contrast between local limestone and industrial metal roofing. The building's function is proclaimed in large freestanding letters marching across the top of the entrance canopy and the limestone walls of the rear elevation. It follows the sort of lettering that renders the building a “decorated shed” as described in Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour's Learning from Las Vegas (1972). The central spine of the building is marked by a long monitor roof to bring in natural light.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Maury Maverick Jr. Branch Library and Fire Station No. 49
Humane Society Adoption Facility of Bexar County
Thomas Jefferson High School
Our Lady of the Lake University
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Great Northwest Branch Library", [San Antonio, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-SA129.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 187-187.

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