Comprising 105,000 square feet (9,800 m2) of space, the building was designed by Esherick Homsey Dodge & Davis of Chicago, which sought to "break the mold" of institutional libraries.

This protects the books from harmful, constant exposure to sun rays and helps soften the sunlight entering the two-story reading room overlooking Resurrection Meadow south of the chapel.

Perhaps the best representation of Christopher Center's integration of traditional library services with current technology is the Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS).

Using a bar code logged into it, the management computer system runs the robot and simultaneously registers the volume's current location in the one of its 1,872 bins.

Designed like a combination car-jack and fork lift, the computer-controlled cranes move along the aisles and up or down the stacks of bins to retrieve the requested material and place it on a tray desk in the main circulation area.

Provided by a gift from alumnus Herbert F. Stride, this automated storage and retrieval system is one of the first five installed for use in libraries in the nation.