preview

Comparing The Broad Museum And The Exeter Library

Decent Essays
Museums and libraries share many functions, goals, and have similar technological needs. They share the history of collecting and preserving our cultural heritage and have recognizably similar features. This makes the comparison between the Broad Museum and the Exeter Library very interesting. Even though both buildings are from different centuries, they have some similarities and differences.
The Exeter Library was designed by Louis Kahn, which is one of the most important and visually austere buildings that Kahn built, for the high school community at Phillips Exeter Academy in 1965. The beauty of architecture in the library shows on the first floor that gave to the Exeter library that fame. This main floor reaches a height of 70 feet so that allows the natural light
…show more content…
In a like manner, the Broad museum is 120,000-square-foot which is quite similar to the Exeter Library. Further, both building has a square shape floor plans but has a different distribution in internal spaces. Case in point, the design concept of The Exeter Library based on the symmetrical interior walls directing the void to the center of the building, while the design concept of the Broad museum has non-symmetric internal walls based on the activity for each space and the circulation of the building to motivate people to walk throughout the spaces and to give motivation and interest to discover the other activity. As a consequence, the Exeter’s symmetric design help people to immediately understand the relationship between the reference area, and motion paths, and bookshelves once reaching to the first floor. The priest Louis kept in mind the importance of this element for visitors to easily understand the general outline of the library as soon as they enter, unlike the Broad museum, hard to understand the general outline and the circulation for visitors once getting to the
Get Access