The Atlanta Central Library: The End of a Long Search

The Atlanta Central Library is one of the last Breuer designed buildings. Completed in 1980, a year before his death, the library may seem to be very different from Breuer's other work but has a long history in terms of Breuer's urban work. Breuer's view of public buildings in the city was that they must distinguish themselves from commercial buildings, but respect the street and context they are in. Breuer distinguished public buildings not through openness and transparency, but through the building's solidity and muteness. On the interior, Breuer's buildings create their own world with prescribed views to the city. This necessary break between the exterior and interior personifies Rem Koolhaas' tactic of lobotomy and schizophrenia in the New York skyscraper. The chapter starts with Breuer's previous work in an urban context including a long discussion of the Whitney Museum of Art. The Atlanta Public Library is introduced and its long road to construction is described. Finally the Atlanta Public Library is compared to contemporaneous works such as Boston City Hall and the Yale Art & Architecture building.