http://www.bpl.org/compass/2013/08/26/up-on-the-roof-of-the-boston-public-library/ The BPL Compass Fri, 27 Sep 2013 13:19:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://www.bpl.org/compass/2013/08/26/up-on-the-roof-of-the-boston-public-library/comment-page-1/#comment-5737 S. Sun, 01 Sep 2013 20:29:24 +0000 http://www.bpl.org/compass/?p=2710#comment-5737 Love the pics! Nice visual reminder of how BPL is a central component of the Back Bay landscape/skyscape. And is that stone tile on the roof of the Johnson Building?
I really like to concept of adding a public elevator; and restructuring access between the Johnson and McKim Building makes sense, for every floor of both buildings– perhaps in the future (5-10 years?) the library will be able to provide direct access between the 3rd floor galleries of the McKim building (rare book and art libraries) and the Johnson building, so that these collections are no longer hidden in a labyrinth of twisting corridors. It would also be nice to add a green-roof on the (concrete?) portions the Johnson Building’s roof– the flat-spaces, that constitute most of the roof’s “square” beyond the sloped tiling, and the glass-pyramid skylights. Because after all: if the Johnson building has a striking line-of-sight to the Hancock and Prudential Towers, it only follows that the “isometric profile” of the roof’s entire area must constitute a major landscape feature, from the perspective of both buildings– by which logic, it might make sense to invest in a minimal level of “greening” the Johnson’s roof– perhaps you could propose this as a joint project between the Library, the city, and the surrounding skyscrapers? Also it might be nice to adjust the glass of the Johnson building’s skylights, to improve lighting/insulation.

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