The Sterling Library, Yale University

Luke Hughes has been commissioned for nearly twenty projects for Yale University.

The projects list includes the furniture for the three dining halls at the Yale NUS campus in Singapore, all the dining furniture for Franklin College at Yale and in the Sterling Library, the furniture for the circulation areas of the Bass Law Library, the library the Manuscripts and Archives Room, the reception furniture in the Nave entrance area and, most recently, the re-creation of the furniture for the Linonia and Brothers (‘L&B’) Reading Room at the Sterling Library.

The Reading Room was named in honour of the ‘Linonia Society’ and the ‘Brothers in Unity’, two debating societies founded in the 18th century that built substantial collections containing modern literature in an era when Yale did not offer English as a field of study. After the Sterling Library opened in 1931, those collections were donated to the new library.

The renovation project, led by Apicella & Bunton Architects, was completed in April 2024 and has returned the 90-year infrastructure to its original splendour while also adding all the conveniences of 21st century services.

Luke Hughes has designed and supplied most of the furniture, including all the readers’ tables (now suitable for modern connectivity and wheel-chair accessibility), the ‘Folio’ readers’ chairs, the deep upholstered leather armchairs and the furniture for the conference room and Librarian’s office.

Luke Hughes Designs 'Folio' chair is now the readers’ chair of choice for some of the world’s most prestigious libraries, including the Radcliffe Camera at the Bodleian Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, the L&B Reading Room in the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University, the British Library, Cambridge University Library, Selwyn College Library, Edinburgh University Library, Trinity College (Cambridge), Exeter College (Oxford) Trinity College (Oxford), Tower of London and the London Guildhall.

See FOLIO

View Image gallery: Sterling Library’s L&B Room, past and future

View an online exhibit about Sterling Memorial Library architecture.

Read a 2021 Yale News story announcing the L&B Room renovation.

2024 AIA Connecticut / Preservation Connecticut Elizabeth Mills Brown Award of Excellence

https://your.yale.edu/youryale/above-world-so-high

https://online.fliphtml5.com/nxyjj/wdcf/#p=1

https://www.apicellabunton.com/project/linonia-brothers-reading-room/

Yale Library, “L&B is Back”

 Yale News, “Sterling Library’s L&B Room, a Campus Gem, Slated for Renovation” 

Yale News, “Five Things to Know About…the L&B Room”

 for Humanity – The Yale Campaign, “Restoring a Classic” 