This mostly private library is for a childless couple that over the years, through their love of literature and the arts, have surrounded themselves with books and now resides in Marfa, Texas. Daylighting is important, to allow for reading by natural light and to deepen the sense of this library as an almost sacred place. Books not being read may only be touched by reflected light, to help to ensure their preservation. Acoustical qualities are nearly as important as those of natural light. This is a place for solitude, and for the deep reading of texts.

The cactus, a plant native to the Southwest, becomes the impetus from which the spatial edge of this library will come into being. Its unique biology, morphology, tectonics, and transformative nature are intensely studied so that they may be used to inform the architecture. From the street, through the grid of Agave plants, one descends into a recessed public plaza. Opening onto the plaza, there is a public art gallery and small library. From these small public spaces, one transitions to the subterranean private reading room, a complex progression of fluid space and light.