Location: Anonymous [Undisclosed]

Completion Date: 2023

Project Size: 7,450 sf

At a time when libraries are perceived to be under threat from a shrinking public realm on one side, and digitization on the other, our process creates libraries that serve as a civic space for the circulation of knowledge of all types. Our innovative organizing system for a physical collection – paired with multi-functional use spaces – offers inspiring buildings that are robust in both elegance and logic. Accordingly, it is our approach to the 21st Century Library Renovation and Addition, that the building’s new programmatic spaces are intuitively arranged across a diverse datum, which we anticipate will flow “in between” and “beyond” traditional community spaces.

Project Understanding

We believe that the 21st Century Library Renovation and Addition project has the potential to not only modernize an historic library and create a 21st Century community asset but also to become a community hub and heart of the region through added gathering and community spaces.

Discovery, Gathering, Innovation

The library is no longer a place just to order and retrieve books. At its core, a library is a place of discovery - discovery of ideas, people, possibilities. Discovery can be facilitated through well crafted spaces that emphasize working directly with materials. This provides a place where minds have the freedom to grow into the person they are intended to be, in a constant environment of wonder and self-discovery.

But this project is about more than a just a library function. Through an emphasis on new gathering spaces for all, this facility will encourage diverse sets of users to come together in the heart of the village. Bringing people together reinforces the bonds of a community. As a public asset libraries are well positioned to create space for gathering to promote learning, discovery, and an exchange of ideas. Strong architecture and design can support these functions by creating familiar environments that bring both excitement and comfort to users.

Finally, by bringing together people to discover new and exciting possibilities innovation is an inevitable by-product. This library will be an important community asset not just for its planned functions. It is also a place that can lead to innovative and imaginative futures for the region and beyond. This project has the potential to be a focal point for facilitating these innovate exchanges.