University of Guelph McLaughlin Library

Guelph, Ontario

Aboud & Associates, in collaboration with Prime Consultant J.L. Richards & Associates, provided Landscape Architecture and Arboricultural services for the new University of Guelph McLaughlin Library entry plaza and integrating pathways to the main pedestrian spines on campus.

The McLaughlin Library is situated at the busy intersection of two major pedestrian spines on the University of Guelph’s main campus and is the academic hub for study, collaboration, research, and scholarship. Opened in 1968 to accommodate 10,000 students, the McLaughlin Library now serves an on-campus student population of over 23,000. The library can see up to 13,000 students at peak periods resulting in between 1.5 to 2 million visits a year. The historical entrance located on Wineguard Walk was purposely designed as a pinch point creating a desirable urban design attribute in in the 1960’s. However, by the 2020’s, with double the number of students on campus, the entrance was undersized, presented accessibility challenges, and was difficult to navigate for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic, particularly during class changes. In addition, seasonal control of temperature levels for front desk staff just inside the historical entry was very challenging with all doors essentially remaining open during peak use times.

The new building entrance and entry plaza were designed to respect the materiality of the brutalist architecture style of the library, while creating a human-scaled experience. Where possible, mature beech and spruce trees were retained and protected during construction. The terraced, curved seat walls afford the opportunity to relax, gather, meet and greet during all four seasons on campus with both sunny and shaded sections. The human-scaled concrete unit pavers continue the materiality of the building and provides refence to the iconic red bricked pedestrian spines on campus. The space integrated the existing formal pedestrian network, historical ad-hoc pathways and desire lines, and emergency access to the new building entrance. Grading and layout of pathways to the entry plaza carefully were considered to provide improve accessibility and enhance the flexibility of the plaza.

https://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/news/new-library-entrance-project-update/