Penn State’s Pattee Library is getting an update and addition, as a courtyard will be filled in to add a four-story student area and the library café will move to the main floor.
Richard Manning, Penn State civil design engineer, recently submitted a final plan to the State College Borough Planning Commission for the project that would demolish the outside courtyard located between central and west Pattee and replace it with the addition. The plan also calls for renovations to central and west Pattee and to the exterior terrace.
The initial cost estimate for the project was set at $21.85 million last August, with final approval expected this September. The plan was approved by the planning commission on July 18
“Currently, the courtyard is not designed from an accessibility standpoint. There are stairs on both ends. It remains relatively unused and what we are proposing with this building is four stories to match the exterior sides of the building … a student area for the most part,” said Manning. “About a 9,100-gross-square-foot expansion and about 2,300-square-foot footprint.”
The outside terrace area is currently closed off and under construction. Before the construction, it felt closed off, with large walls that blocked the area. The plan is to open up the area both visually and in terms of accessibility by removing the screening wall and adding green space to make it “a much friendlier area,” said Manning.
The plan also includes adding bike racks to the west side of the building to encourage bicycle use and provide a safe storage area.
Planning commission member Jon Eich expressed concern about the removal of trees from the area because of the shade they provide. Tom Flynn, a university landscape architect, said the trees in the area are in bad shape because they are in “death pits” that are surrounded by concrete. Flynn said that new trees will grow to provide shade.
The coffee shop near the terrace area will move up to the Curtin Road entrance of the library. The place where the coffee shop currently resides will become a space for students to study with a ring of private study rooms and technology available, said Flynn.
