The college has been planning the design of the new library for many years, but it has also been dissatisfied with the suggestions of the hired designers and committees. Exeter College has specific requirements for their buildings: a brick facade building that combines the original Georgian architectural style of the college, and an ideal indoor environment suitable for learning.
Kang's sensitive and harmonious use of brick materials and consideration of natural light fully conform to these specific rules conceived by the college for the new library, so Kang took over the design task of Exeter Library.
People enter the library with an area of111mx11ft from the ground floor and go up to the first floor along a large stone staircase, and immediately feel the relationship among the inquiry area, the borrowing desk and the bookshelf.
Kang thinks this is very important, so that people can easily read the plane of the building at the entrance. Disposing the loan on the first floor instead of the bottom floor reflects the consideration that service is higher than safety. The college can easily accept this, because the staff can be closer to the bookshelves and readers, so considering the function of the library loan office, this arrangement is the most reasonable.
However, the beauty of the first floor of the building is the reason why Exeter Library is famous. As the main floor, it is 70 feet high and absorbs natural light from the skylight at the top of the space and the large-span glass windows in the north and west.
When the 1972 library was completed, the college was finally very satisfied with the new design. Kang successfully met all the design requirements through his own design rules.
This building is functional, first meeting the needs of all readers, while still maintaining its innovative existence. In Kang's words, this is a kind of "thoughtful space creation". 1995 building was officially named 1945 library to commemorate the eighth president of Philip Exeter College.