F.W. Olin Library
Drury University
Springfield,MO

In 1990, Drury College received more than $6 million for the construction and equipping of their new library from the F.W. Olin Foundation. “This is the largest grant received by the college in its 117 year history and the largest initial grant ever awarded by the foundation.”
John E. Moore, Jr., President, Sept 7, 1990.

The project announcement from the college continues ...
"Designed by Springfield architect and Drury alumnus Allen R. Casey, AIA, (Casey Hill Architects) the Olin Library, with its detailing, windows, arches and pediments, will be reminiscent of existing Drury buildings yet have a character of its own. The library will provide small group study and seminar rooms, faculty study areas, a classroom, a multi-purpose room and study carrels. A formal reading room on the second floor will provide a comfortable and attractive area for study.

The Olin Library will be located on the site of Harwood Hall, home of Drury’s library from 1925 to 1959. The 64,000 square foot facility will become the new focal point of the campus, uniting the academic south with the student residence area to the north. A significant feature of the new building is that the entire library collection will be under one roof for the first time in 15 years. "

The plaza to the south of the entry and the covered arcade create a series of spaces that initiate a transition from the pedestrian flow of the campus to a pleasant outdoor sitting area for restring, reading, conversing or merely people-watching. This plaza is an extension of the library - it is the library outside. Users of the building pass through the covered arcade, through the vestibule and into the core of the building.

The siting of the building evolved from a Campus Master Plan prepared under the direction of Allen Casey, with a design process that included extensive input from many Drury faculty, students, and administrators.
Other projects on the Drury Campus that were also designed by Casey Hill Architects include the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building, the Communications Center/KOZK Studio and KOZK Addition, Freeman Hall - Pan Hellenic, and the renovation of Walker College Center and Burnham Hall.

Project Manager - Allen Casey