Founded in 1906, Western Kentucky University’s (WKU’s) 200-acre campus sits on a hilltop in Bowling Green, offering more than 20,000 students 100 majors across five colleges. With the growing number of students and variety of curriculum offered on the expansive campus during the past few decades, WKU recognized a need for a modernized space that could blend learning, socialization, and academic services while driving engagement and community.
Looking within existing campus assets, WKU saw potential in Helm Library, a 1930s structure that was built as the university’s first basketball arena and was renovated in the 1960s to become a library. Guided by the goal to preserve the building’s historic presence while activating the space with welcoming energy, Gensler partnered with WKU to bring The Commons at Helm Library into a new era of serving students and faculty.
At the start of the project, Gensler’s team was challenged to rethink the typical notion of a library by developing a concept and program that balances the relationship between social and intellectual space. This new vision enables the library to become more than an archaic space to collect books and periodicals. Instead, it provides students, faculty, and staff an open invitation to connect, share a meal, continue instruction beyond the classroom and develop ideas for collaboration.
THE PROGRAM: HARNESS THE SOCIAL TO POWER THE INTELLECTUAL
To successfully shift the building’s purpose from a static purveyor of information to a creator of knowledge, the program melds social and intellectual spaces with the buzziest activities on the ground level, transitioning upward to quieter, more focused activities on the third floor. Circulation paths and the variety of space types within the building welcome a broad set of users and encourage a sense of discovery through spontaneous experiences.
On the first floor, socialization takes center stage. Four food venues await hungry students, who can choose from indoor or outdoor terraced seating that was made possible by opening the façade of the building to engage with the academic heart of campus. Collaboration niches are tucked throughout the space for students who prefer to work together among the buzz of activity.
On the way to level two, the energy of the social spaces narrows as the program shifts toward collaboration and student support. After fueling up at the coffee shop, students can step into shared study rooms and utilize the central concierge help desk to direct them to the variety of learning support tools and spaces located throughout the building.
At the top floor, the dull roar quiets to a hum. Whether accessing the reference stacks, finding a place to land in the quiet study area, attending class in an active learning classroom or utilizing the media content development resources, students can find dedicated spaces that allow for focused work. Also implemented is a one button room, where students and faculty can record themselves and practice their presentation skills.
While social spaces activate the building, the purpose of the commons is to leverage these spaces to drive learning outcomes. Student support services are spread throughout to encourage utilization by students and faculty from across the university. Fusing the program together, offerings like the knowledge network, which encircles the central 2-story gathering space at the center of the building, help to level the playing field and create a connected and inclusive space for peer-to-peer tutoring.
THE INTERVENTION: RESTORE, RECONNECT, REVITALIZE
Dedicated in 1931, the original Health & Physical Education Building was a multipurpose space that held basketball games, concerts, dances and student class registration. When the basketball program moved to Diddle Arena in 1963, the building was transformed into the Helm Library, where individuals could meet to study, research and learn.
In the process of creating a space for focus, much of the building was closed off from the outside and the volume and history of the building was covered up. One of the design team’s priorities for the project was to open the façade, seamlessly uniting the commons and surrounding campus.
PHOTOS: NICK MCGINN | DESIGN BY GENSLER unless otherwise noted