Architecture firm Snøhetta has released images of a new library it has designed for a Philadelphia university, stating that it aims to challenge the "traditional typology of the research library" (+ slideshow).

The building ? designed in collaboration with architecture and engineering firm Stantec ? will be located on the campus of Temple University, a research-focused institution with roughly 37,800 students.
Encompassing 225,000 square feet (20,900 metres), the new facility will contain study areas, resource centres, a cafe, an event hall, public spaces, and a sophisticated information technology system, among other amenities.

"This new library will put Temple University at the forefront of progressive research institutions," said Snøhetta, which was founded in 1989 in Norway and today has studios in Oslo, Innsbruck, New York and San Francisco. "Acting as a new social, cultural and intellectual hub for the university and surrounding community, the design serves the contemporary needs of a world-class research facility and its students," added the architects.

Situated at the intersection of two major pedestrian pathways and adjacent to a future quadrangle, the library will anchor a new academic and social core planned for the campus.
The architecture is defined by a solid base clad in vertical sections of rough stone ? a material that takes its cue from existing campus buildings. Terraced plazas that step up toward the library are desig...