trinidad state college, freudenthal library rfq
The Samuel Freudenthal Memorial Library is located at the Trinidad Campus and is named for Senator Samuel Freudenthal. Freudenthal was one of the major sponsors of Senate Bill 403, which led to the founding of Trinidad State College. Samuel Freudenthal was also a successful local attorney who practiced law in Trinidad until his death in October of 1929. The primary mission of the Samuel Freudenthal Memorial Library is to meet and anticipate the academic and informational needs of Trinidad State College’s students, staff, and local community members.The main floor of the library also houses Advising, Academic Support, Trinidad State’s Intervention Specialist, Retention Specialist and Writing Lab, as well as other tutoring support. The library provides current and relevant print and electronic resources that support the academic curriculum, while evolving with changing contemporary library needs.
The goal of the renovation project is to ensure that the Freudenthal Library becomes a welcoming and well-used facility that serves the College well for generations to come. The project architect, studiotrope Design Collective, utilized creative design approaches to create spaces to facilitate learning, making, and creating for individuals and groups. The renovation features a re-imagining of the primary entry by creating a double-height space, a wide variety of gathering and library programming spaces, a maker space, an incubator space, staff work space, and classroom updates.
In the renovation, the library’s entrance will be reconfigured to provide a translucent, modernized facade. The new entrance will resemble a “glass box” and will provide a beacon for students walking on campus and users entering the library. The goals for the library are to create a space that is relaxing and calming while providing opportunities for connection, collaboration, and learning. The library will serve as a meeting place and central cultural space on campus. The interior of the building will also receive modernizing upgrades that improve its functionality as a home for the library’s collection as well as a place for students to study and gather. Interior spaces will be opened up to accentuate the upper volumes of the building, including in student lounge areas. A maker space will be added on the 3rd floor of the library. The goal of all the changes is to capture the idea that libraries are no longer static, mausoleums, rather they are active, evolving learning, and gathering spaces.
The central area in the library, known as the gallery lounge, will have a fireplace added, to provide warmth and to reiterate that this space serves as a “living room” for the campus. There is a permanently mounted mosaic in this space that will remain after the renovation (images provided below), and there are floor to ceiling windows on either side of the fireplace that highlight a view of Fisher’s Peak.
The committee is looking for an artwork that addresses one of the potential locations in the Freudenthal Library. Among the locations available for artwork are a wall-mounted opportunity and ceiling-hung locations. The committee is not interested in three-dimensional sculptural artworks on the floor of any spaces.