Billie Jean King Main Library

Over the years following World War II, in which Skidmore, Owings & Merrill rose to prominence, its architecture was largely identified with an astute deployment of steel, concrete, and glass using a Miesian vocabulary. Now the firm is showing it can exercise the same finesse with timber as the structural solution. This natural material composes 80 percent of the new Billie Jean King Main Library in Long Beach, California—named for the legendary tennis player who grew up there and presided over the building’s dedication last September.