A preview of Hofstra’s $850,000 renovation of Axinn Library’s 10th floor

Axinn Library’s 10th floor has been under renovation as part of Hofstra’s strategic plan. // Madeline Sisk / The Hofstra Chronicle.

In the fall, Axinn Library’s newly renovated 10th floor will be open to the public.

The Hofstra University Facilities and Operations team will open the 10th floor of the Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library next semester, introducing a fully integrated and renovated space.

The remodel of the 10th floor is part of a much bigger, three-phase project of the Unispan, library and student center found in Hofstra’s strategic plan.

“We had a meeting back in the fall, I think at the end of the fall, with Joe Barkwill, with the company that is renovating the 10th floor and with the interior designer who [specified] all of the furniture,” said Student Government Association President Lincoln Anniballi. “It’s been in our strategic facilities’ strategic plan as a university for probably 10 years.”

The $850,000 plan was conceptualized by the design firm Sasaki and executed by Graf and Lewent Architects. The renovation aims to maximize the space and foster a more positive work environment for students.

First built in 1966 by Warner, Burns, Toan & Lunde, Axinn Library has long served as a landmark on campus. Over the years, it has undergone several renovations, with the last major interior renovation of the basement and first floor done by Bentel & Bentel. Most recently, the exterior was redone, including painting, installing LED lighting and installing energy-efficient windows.

Joseph Barkwill, the vice president of facilities and operations, said the space was underutilized and not study-friendly prior to these renovations.

“There was nothing there. The whole 10th floor was open – no furniture, nothing,” Barkwill said. “The only thing on the 10th floor we had was study cubicles.”

“It was just kind of a bleak space, lots of empty, unused potential. And so now, the new plans really integrate all the space to allow for more students to be there,” Anniballi said.

Senior psychology major Ava Kool, who works as a student aide at the circulation desk, said she hopes the inclusion of more study spaces will bring more students to the library.

“I’m really just excited to have more spaces dedicated solely to the students in the building,” Kool said. “They’re going to make [the ninth and 10th floors] a big student area to add more study spaces because we have study rooms now, but it would be helpful for all of us, and students included, to have more spaces available.”

Howard Graf, the lead architect for the 10th floor, previously worked with Hofstra in renovating the Netherlands Complex and Colonial Square. During those projects, Graf emphasized student opinions, and that sentiment has been repeated for the 10th floor of Axinn Library.

“He really was open to their input, and he made sure that their input was put into the project,” Barkwill said.

With modern furnishings by Ki, Agati and Haworth, the setting was selected with comfort in mind. The 10th floor will be able to seat around 100 students with chairs and sofas featuring shades of cool gray and blue. The wooden tables were ordered in the colors Kensington maple and white oak while other tables and counters will be marble.

“We got to feel the fabric of which we prefer on the couch and the carpets, got to feel the wood – there’s going to be this wood-paneled section in the back,” Anniballi said. “That was one of my favorite meetings because hopefully, once we’re actually able to go up there, they’ll integrate that feedback in there and we’ll get to see what we were able to, from a student’s perspective, put into practice.”

Anniballi also emphasized one student-led initiative that will be present once the renovations are complete – 13 lounge “egg” chairs by Ki.

“[They were] not in any of the original plans until we had that meeting with [Facilities] last fall where we discussed some things we’d like to see,” Anniballi said. “Those are always a hotspot [on the second floor of the library], and we’ve heard from students that those are something that they would like to see more of on campus, so why not try it out on the 10th floor.”

Another important addition to the 10th floor is bringing it up to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible design codes. There will now be an ADA-accessible bathroom on the floor, along with two other bathrooms and several vending machines for student convenience.

The 10th floor will prioritize individual study space, whereas the ninth floor will be more equipped for group work. With the inclusion of more specialized study areas, Kool hopes the penthouse will be known as a silent floor.

“The 10th floor was supposed to be the quietest,” Kool said. “I think that would be nice to have that space there again, especially if it’s going to be designated as the quiet floor because as much as, you know, we try to keep things quiet on the lower floors, sometimes it does get a little loud.”

The 10th floor is also connected to the ninth floor by a staircase. While renovations are still in progress on the ninth floor, the staircase will remain closed off.

One challenge the 10th floor has always faced has been the elevators. The former meeting space often went unused in favor of another location due to the hassle of getting up to it, especially during busy times of day.

“The ninth and 10th floor used to be a great place to hold an event because of its beautiful view. But it’s impossible to get [large groups of] people up there,” Barkwill said. “Sasaki said, why don’t you put the students up there and give them the view? They don’t go in large groups.”

Between the two elevators, Barkwill believes they can comfortably handle the number of students who would use the 10th floor at any given time.

“The biggest challenge is trying to [do construction] work in a library itself,” Barkwill said. “Working in a building that is normally meant for silence creates a lot of issues.”

While the construction work was noticeably louder last semester, Kool said that it has gotten much better over time.

“It’s been fine recently, but it was kind of loud last semester with everything going on,” Kool said. “But it’s been under construction for quite a bit, especially the ninth and the 10th floor, so I’m excited to see those be reopened.”

In an attempt to circumvent noise issues, Barkwill’s team does most of their louder construction early in the morning. This includes bringing materials up to the 10th floor through one of the library’s elevators. When working on the ninth floor, Barkwill is considering doing the bulk of the construction at night.

Additionally, the space was a courtyard when it was first built in the ‘60s. When it was renovated and enclosed in the ‘90s, the openness remained in the floor’s 27-foot-high ceilings.

“If you look at the design, one of the real challenges was bringing the ceiling down, we did that with lighting,” Barkwill said. A mixture of pendant and cylinder lighting will be staggered 10 to 12 feet from the ceiling to fill some of that space.

Recently, the ninth floor was vacated in preparation for the next phase of renovations. The floor, which previously housed the dean of libraries’ office and part of the art museum, will become a collaborative meeting and study space with usable technology.

The design process will begin in August in collaboration with the architect. Following those plans, Facilities will share those ideas with students and SGA in September.

“I think it’ll be a really great addition to our study spaces on campus,” Anniballi said. “I think there’s not a lot of, like, centralized studying locations that we have, and the library, I think, is underused a lot of the time, so hopefully this gets students up there.”