STERNBERG LIBRARY at HACKLEY SCHOOL
Goodhue Memorial Hall after a devastating fire
Sternberg and Goodhue as seen from Akin Common
Hackley School, founded in 1899 as a prep school for boys, serves a co-ed population of 900 students in grades K to 12. The library at Hackley was located in Goodhue Memorial Hall, a neoclassical stone building that has graced the main quadrangle for more than 100 years. On August 4, 2007, lightning struck the roof of Goodhue, sparking a massive fire that destroyed the wood structure and interior, leaving only the masonry shell. Goodhue re-opened in September 2010 with its exterior completely restored. A new steel structure was inserted inside the stone walls, and a new second story was added to the original structure, doubling its interior space from 8,000 sf to 16,000 sf while modifying its footprint slightly.
Project Information
Sternberg Library
Hackley School
Tarrytown, NY
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Restoration/Preservation
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Transformation
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New Construction
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16,000 sf
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LEED Gold
Honors and Awards
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2012 AIA Connecticut Honor Award
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2011 AIA Westchester/Hudson Valley Honor Award
The new Sternberg library occupies the entire second floor of Goodhue. The main reading room is distinguished by a barrel-vaulted ceiling of acoustically-absorbing plaster which resembles the ceiling of the original library. All of the new interior finishes evoke the spirit of Goodhue’s classical beginnings.
Sternberg was designed to foster collaborative learning; it is not a silent space. On either side of the central space, digital student workstations overlook the main quadrangle to the southeast; glass-enclosed group study rooms face northwest. These spaces, classrooms and offices for the librarians and staff are all transparent to each other. The library, with its connections to the main quad and the campus, is a natural destination--an active place filled with students all the time.
Goodhue received LEED Gold certification. With its new geothermal heating and cooling system, heavily insulated exterior and new windows, the energy loss through the building’s skin has been reduced by approximately 70 percent. Goodhue, now doubled in size, uses only 10-15% of the energy required by the original.