NC State's Iconic Library Fast-Tracked

Contact: dwhiscoe (919) 513-3425

On January 9, 2009, the NC Council of State announced it was accelerating the sale of bonds to finance the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library at North Carolina State University, in part to provide a strong short-term stimulus for the state’s economy. The move comes in stark contrast to the freeze on other research library projects as universities nation-wide struggle with the continuing economic downturn. California State University and San Francisco State University, for instance, recently put major library projects on hold .

In this period of economic uncertainty, Beverly Perdue, North Carolina’s new governor, set out her vision in her recent inaugural address:

“Now is not the time for us to hunker down. We cannot just cut back. And I will not lower my expectations for . . . the people of North Carolina . . . . What we will do is to accept this time of challenge as an opportunity to think big, to dig deep and to push ahead. What we do in the next four years will literally define our future.”

The Hunt Library, named for North Carolina’s governor from 1977 to 1985 and 1993 to 2001, will serve as the signature building and intellectual and social heart for NCSU’s Centennial Campus , a groundbreaking national model for academic, government, and industry collaborative research parks. Housing over 130 companies, government agencies, and NC State research and academic units, the Centennial Campus was named the top Research Science Park of the Year by the Association of University Research Parks (AURP) in 2007.

The Hunt Library building, a $127 million project, is scheduled for completion in late 2012 and will also house the Institute for Emerging Issues , a public policy think-and-do tank established by Governor Hunt. The Executive Architect for the library is Pearce Brinkely Cease + Lee (PBC+L) and it is being designed by Snøhetta , the Norwegian firm responsible for the National September 11 Memorial Museum and the new Oslo Opera House, winner of the “Culture” award from the 2008 World Architecture Festival. According to Susan Nutter, Vice Provost and Director of Libraries for NCSU, the building “will be a vibrant intellectual and social forum for the campus community, showcasing the latest technologies and research achievements of the university. The timeless aspects of the library’s mission as a gateway to the world’s knowledge will be reflected in the building’s design. . . . We seek nothing less than to create the best learning and collaborative space in the country.”