From: Tim Fleck
Bar Harbor, Maine
R.I.P, I.M. Pei.
One of my earliest architectural memories is the design and construction of the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library in my hometown of Columbus, Indiana, completed in 1969 when I was 5 years old. I remember being fascinated by Mr. Pei and his exotic-sounding name, by the audacious idea of a very modern building to replace the quaint, old library.
I remember being take with the fact that the design included closing a block of a city street (you can do that?), and a generous public plaza around a monumental Henry Moore sculpture, reflecting the serene First Christian Church by Eliel Saarinen across the street (many of my best childhood memories are of concerts, festivals and informal gatherings in that plaza).
I remember being surprised at how comfortable the uncompromisingly modernist building felt next to the genteel Italianate homes on the block. I remember how warm and safe the children’s library felt, creating spaces out of exposed brick and concrete waffle slab that were somehow still playful and made space for the imagination.
A decade later, my first real job was as a page in the library, where I learned how well-though-out and humane were the staff work spaces. Two more decades later, I was an architect myself, part of a firm whose practice focused on library buildings. I learned just how challenging and complex libraries are, and developed new respect for this small, elegant library designed by this quiet, elegant man.
