The campus of the University of San Andrés in Buenos Aires employs a distinct architectural vocabulary, with extensive use of brick, exposed concrete, and broad-eaved overhanging roofs. The main shortcoming of its master plan had long been an open-ended circulation scheme lacking any apparent conclusion. The new building, besides meeting strictly functional criteria related to its purpose as a library, was also meant to provide a circulation terminus and to serve as a visual focus for the campus.

The brick and steel of the trapezoidal building’s main volume echo the surrounding buildings, as do the broad eaves of the roof, which enhance the reading environment within by allowing only diffuse light to enter the building. Emerging from the metallic roof is the library’s main architectural gesture, an elevated cube of double-glazed translucent glass that admits light during the day and emits a soft glow at night. The cube, besides allowing the introduction of natural light into the heart of a building much larger than those surrounding it, also acts as a campus landmark: whether reflecting or emitting light, it accentuates the profile of the library, defining it as the center of university life and as the meeting place of the academic community.

The library roof is formed by four non-identical trapezoids defined by the line segments joining the corners of the central cube with those of the main volume. A notch cut into the roof sheltering the principal façade defines the building’s entrance.