Iowa’s Mason City Public Library remodel features a Commons that highlights the $9.3 million project. CREDITS: Holabird & Root, architecture; photo, Dale Photography.
The new Manheim Township Public Library, Lancaster, PA, consists of a series of “book barns,” to ape the area’s architectural heritage. Reminiscent of a traditional farmstead, the library’s exterior features low-maintenance stone, fibercement, metal roofing accented with wood brackets and beams. The elongated gable-end windows resemble ventilation slats in tobacco barns. CREDITS: Kimmel Bogrette, architecture; photo, ©Jay Greene Architectural Photography.
The expansion/remodel of the East Liberty Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (CLP) added a two-story 9000 square foot space that includes meeting rooms and enhanced services for patrons of all ages. The upper floor projects the structure into the access corridors of three major streets, providing the library with a more prominent footprint. The lower level now houses the CLP Heritage Collection. CREDITS: EDGE Studio, architects; photo, ©2010 Ed Massery.
Winner of a Members’ Choice Award from the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the new Oley E. Rooker Library, Little Rock, AR, has walls of windows that overlook a plaza and an infinity-edge reflecting pool. Frolicking in the pool is the cast bronze sculpture “The Otter Family,” by Terry and Maritza Cornejo Bean of tbean Atelier. CREDITS: Allison Architects, Inc., architect; photo, Steve Grisham.
The Windmill Library & Service Center, Las Vegas–Clark County Library District, NV, is the largest project this year, at $45.7 million, encompassing 142,149 square feet. The building envelope was designed to provide efficiency and harmony among systems. Exterior balconies provide space for receptions and relaxation in the desert environment. CREDITS: JMA Architecture, architect; photo, Opulence Studios.
Conceived as a “Knowledge Center,” Georgia Gwinnett College Library, Lawrenceville, is a four-story edifice comprising nearly 91,000 square feet. The building encompasses classrooms, research spaces, a café, in addition to a multipurpose lecture room. A three-story, 215’-long curtain wall, buttressed with an “Arch of Knowledge,” opens to an interior plaza. The building has received LEED Gold certification for green practices, the first Georgia academic library to achieve that designation. CREDITS: Leo A. Daly, architect; photo, Rion Rizzo / © Creative Sources Photography.
The renovation of the Pannell Library, New Mexico Junior College, Hobbs, includes 29,514 square feet at a cost of $5.1 million. Founded in 1966, the college focuses on workforce and professional training, with a thrust toward online degrees, and spreads its wings via its glorious Thunderbird mascot of clay ceramic tiles. CREDITS: Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, architect; photo, Patrick Coulie.
The new five-story Vancouver Community Library, WA, features a shining glass-wrapped façade, with a view inside to a central atrium that connects the multiple levels. “The library was designed to increase services and play a central cultural role in the community.” CREDITS: Miller Hull Partnership, architect; photo, Benjamin Benschneider.
About Bette-Lee Fox
