Las Vegas library and Lied Discovery Children's Museum, Antoine Predock, architect.(Learning in Las Vegas)

Las Vegas is a crossroads city. You have to get past the glitz to understand that Las Vegas has a history that begins with a palpable and visible geologic time. The surrounding mountain ranges expose layers of strata suggesting ancient upheaval. Over that is the layer of Native American occupation: the Paiute tribe. The next layer is that of the Spaniards.

There is a trail called the Spanish Trail that leads from Las Vegas into New Mexico. The most recent historic trail is the Mormon Trail, which links the West coast, San Bernadino, to Salt Lake City, passing through what was to become Las Vegas.

The trails converge at a natural spring in the northern part of Las Vegas. The crossroads is associated with the spring and its nearby meadows. (Las Vegas, in Spanish, means "the meadows.") An adobe brick fort stands by the water at the crossroads. The site for the library and children's museum is adjacent to this fort and thus has a strong natural relationship to the earliest settlements. The library/museum building is also a crossroads building. Its angular alignment receives oncoming visitors in ways that recall the convergence of trails. The sandstone wedge of the common administration area is an arrow, pointing north toward Sheep Mountain.

The pieces of the building diagram pragmatic relationships as well as links between earth and sky. It is as though the building began as an orthogonal building until the "north arrow" wedge blasted through and sent the building askew. This skewing allows unrestricted circulation and creates a triangle of three courtyards within.

Upon arrival, the visitor is guided along the long north-south wall into the vaulted, tunnel-like entry. Water is discharged ...