Dome

Frontal view of the south elevation, detail depicting the top of the central tower; "Denver Central Library, the eighth largest library in the U.S., is located on Civic Center Park between the city's art museum and history museum. The project encompassed a renovation of the existing 133,000-square-foot library, designed by Burnham Hoyt and completed in 1956, and an expansion of 405,000 square feet. The scale and coloration of the expansion, as well as the individualized massing of its components, allow the original library to maintain its own identity as one element of a larger composition. Two public entrances establish an east-west axis through the Great Hall, a three-story vaulted public room of urban scale, which is the focal point for visitor orientation and circulation. The south-facing rotunda contains specialized functional areas such as the reference room and periodicals center, with the Western History Reading Room above." Source: Michael Graves & Associates; http://www.michaelgraves.com/ (accessed 7/7/2008)