See inside Western Kentucky University’s newly opened academic hub

By Rachel Nix, Building Kentucky

The Commons at Helm Library on the Western Kentucky University campus in Bowling Green, Ky. keeps the best elements of the building’s historic architecture melded with modernized features. (Courtesy of Luckett & Farley)

The newly opened The Commons at Helm Library calls back to the space’s former life as a basketball arena with a recreation of the original jump circle in the center of the main floor. (Courtesy of Luckett & Farley)

The light filled, modern The Commons at Helm Library features three levels of active and quiet study and intellectual spaces. Bringing in natural light through a wall of windows and re-installed skylights has benefits for the mind and body as well as overall energy efficiency for the space. (Courtesy of Luckett & Farley)

The Commons at Helm Library brings Western Kentucky University’s dream to reality, creating ‘third space’ on campus where ideas can germinate and flourish. (Courtesy of Luckett & Farley)

Comfortable and quiet study spaces surround an expandable classroom on the top floor of The Commons at Helm Library. (Courtesy of Luckett & Farley)

The top floor of The Commons at Helm Library looks most like a traditional library but incorporates modernized learning and collaborative elements. (Courtesy of Luckett & Farley)

The Commons at Helm Library breaks down barriers between the outside and inside as a window into Western Kentucky University campus life. (Courtesy of Luckett & Farley)

A new kind of library is now open on the Western Kentucky University campus. The ribbon was cut today on The Commons at Helm Library, which blends spaces for studying, socializing and collaborating into one modern academic hub unlike any other in the state of Kentucky – or even the United States.

The $35 million renovation project, by Luckett & Farley of Louisville with Chicago-based Gensler, keeps the best aspects of the former Helm Library’s character while creating a more flexible and adaptable higher education facility. The 85,000 sq. ft. hybrid structure was originally built in 1934 as a campus basketball arena (known as the Big Red Barn) and retrofitted in the 1960s to be a traditional library facility.

Designed in collaboration with Gensler, Luckett & Farley acted as architect of record providing architectural, interior design, landscape architecture, structural engineering, civil site engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and LEED certification process services. A&K Construction of Paducah was the general contractor for the project, which was made possible through a public-private partnership between Western Kentucky University and Aramark Food Services.

“Adaptive reuse projects like The Commons allow us to reinterpret a space to extend its lifespan by stitching together the old and the new. Architects use the power of design to edit outdated elements, enhance the best features of a structure and breathe new life into a building. The Commons honors the history and uniqueness of this longstanding WKU campus building in its new revived and transformed state.”  

Luckett & Farley Architecture Discipline Manager Jessica Gilbert, who served as Project Manager on The Commons