Baker Library, the College’s beloved humanities and social sciences library, has been the center of academic life at Dartmouth College. The Berry addition doubles the size of the existing facility and accommodates new public functions, technical services, reading areas, a café, and the computing services and History departments. The original Baker Library building, essentially unchanged since its construction in 1929, was renovated to accommodate new mechanical systems and comply with current fire and life safety codes. Certain traditional reading rooms and gracious public spaces were carefully restored.
The expanded library occupies a pivotal site between the proposed academic row on one side and the College’s New England commons — the College Green — on the other, thus becoming a focal point at the heart and crossroads of both old and new campuses. The Berry addition extends the library north, anticipating and helping to generate orderly campus development in that direction. Its linear form and imageful north facade terminate the axis of the new row and identify it much as the existing south facade of Baker Library defines the College Green to the south.