In January 2004, PGAV/Sasaki was retained to prepare a Program Planning and Conceptual Design Study for the Miller Nichols Library.
The need for this study stemmed from well-documented deficiencies in the three primary space types within the library:
- collection space,
- student study space, and
- support staff space.
In May 2007 the team was asked to develop the concept through Schematic Design.
Vision:
Transform the library from a “book vault” into a facility that embraces both the University and the surrounding communities by renovating Miller Nichols Library's existing 169,733 gross square feet and adding approximately 68,296 gross square feet.
Objectives:
- Reaffirm UMKC’s master plan which places the Library at the heart of the campus.
- Deliver library services, classrooms, and academic and community support services in a manner that responds to the needs of today’s students and faculty, and is being a model of flexibility which allows on-going transformation.
- Integrate instructional space within the Library, offering not only a more relevant pedagogical model, but also a more cost effective approach to the delivery of education.
- Include program elements that allow UMKC to reach out and become a more active civic participant in the greater Kansas City Community.
- Offer a dramatic new front door for the UMKC campus, and a physical design that expresses the dynamic nature of this new paradigm.
Construction Updates