Auraria Library
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Auraria Library is an academic library located in downtown Denver, Colorado. The library serves three institutions of higher learning: the Downtown Denver Campus of the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and Community College of Denver.
Built in 1976, the library houses over one million volumes and makes available electronically many hundreds of thousands of additional titles. Currently, there are about 25 professional librarians and about 60 library technicians that work in the library. Auraria Library is the busiest academic library in the state of Colorado.
It was designed by Helmut Jahn and received a 1978 excellence-in-design award from the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The citation read: "A refreshing and highly-imaginative solution; a straightforward warehouse of books with little pretensions from our industrial society." The building represents the industrial efficiency of International Modernism exemplified by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.