The David Allan Hubbard Library represents DPR’s second project on the Fuller campus, following completion of a student housing project. As the world’s largest interdenominational seminary, the owner wanted to create a world-class library that would be the largest of its kind on the Pacific Rim. The project includes a new 48,250-sq.-ft. addition to the existing 34,705-sq.-ft. McAlister Library, with two stories below grade and three above. The library will house approximately 1.3 million volumes in multiple languages and will include reading rooms, study carrels and conventional stacks. Several thousand books are the only known copy, with some dating back as far as the 1500s.
A key architectural focal point at the building’s entry is a stylized open book feature, accomplished through a glazing structure. DPR’s ability to innovate has been critical as it contends with construction challenges that include a tight downtown site with very little lay down area. The building is surrounded on all four sides: two sides adjacent to existing buildings, and a city street and a utility right of way on the other sides. The system, which utilizes large, 50-ft.-long, 12-inch-diameter pipes to stabilize the below-grade walls, was chosen in lieu of the more common tie-back system in deference to adjacent property owners who did not want tie backs underneath their structures.