Community Table
Exhibit Columbus 2017
Client: Cleo Rogers Memorial Library
Status: Completed in 2017
Purpose In A Symbol
In 1963, John H. Squadra designed the symbol at the request of I.M. Pei, the architect of the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library, to coincide with the design and opening of the building. Composed of circles and intersecting lines, it was used for bookplates, acknowledgments of donor’s gifts, as an architectural motif. The design fell out of common use, but always registered with the community that runs the library. It became the basis for our design.
The circles symbolize the diverse function of the library. This element is picked up in three dimensional form in the spherical globe lights in the library’s outdoor plaza areas. The quadrants represent the four cardinal directions served in the county by the central library. Intersecting lines at the center represent the library’s central location as a disseminator of knowledge, culture, and ideas, going out to all.
Photographs by Hadley Fruits.