The focus of my thesis is the examination of the formal layers of a building through their material and temporal natures and the interactions of these layers. The examination of the interplay between the new and the old, the coarse and the refined, the organic and the man-made, form the boundaries of my study. Rooting my study in an existing foundry building in Pulaski, Virginia, a new public library is allowed to unfold through the interaction of concrete, steel, and wood interventions into a masonry shell.