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Fifth floor of Burton Barr Public Library, Phoenix
The Burton Barr Central Library is the central library in Phoenix, Arizona. It is the flagship location and system headquarters of the Phoenix Public Library. It was designed by Will Bruder with Wendell Burnette. It is a large facility at about 280,000 square feet in five stories. The five floors accommodate a collection of nearly one million volumes. Several passive and mechanical schemes are utilized to allow daylight into the building. Mechanical rotating skylight drums, horizontal louvres, and fixed teflon-fabric sails deflect light in, but block direct sunlight from harming the collection. The facility opened on May 20, 1995, and is located on Central Avenue one block south of McDowell Road. It replaced a library facility from the 1950's (on McDowell) that is now part of the Phoenix Art Museum complex.
