This 87,000 square-foot library, designed by architect Frank Gehry, serves researchers and provides facilities that take into account the revolutionary changes in scholarly publishing over recent years. It also serves the needs of students better than the current patchwork of small, discipline-specific science libraries.

Acentech designed a 1080p HDTV broadcast video studio with post-production capabilities and a separate audio studio; ten new technology classrooms; two lecture halls; multi-image, IP-based Access Grid videoconferencing venue; and an ultra high-resolution 56-inch projector, 3D immersive visualization lab. The new broadcast studio suite includes a television production studio, video control room, audio recording studio and production room. The studio has the latest high definition video technology with integration of robotic remote control systems and computer based audio recording systems that have advanced mixing and editing systems. Our designs met a variety of needs from larger multi-person productions to local operator-free remote broadcast control for live on-air interviews.

We also consulted on acoustics, vibration isolation and sound attentuation for the broadcast suite, as it's located next to a mechanical room that serves the whole building. Despite its proximity to the noisy mechanical machines, the suite has an extraordinarily low background sound level that enables Princeton to produce high-quality audio recordings.

For the teaching and meeting spaces, including two 65-seat bowl-style classrooms, we specified acoustical finishes that promote good hearing conditions, as well as the design of walls, floor and ceiling constructions, and door and window details to ensure that rooms are well isolated from exterior noise. We also focused on the design of quiet mechanical systems. The monumental reading rooms and other spaces that comprise the library are comfortable places to work and study, due in part to the sound-absorbing treatment that Acentech specified and the strategies for isolating distracting noises, like elevators.