On November 13, 2012 the Stanaker Neighborhood Library, Houston, TX, part of the Houston Public Library, reopened following a major renovation. Founded in 1950 and opened anew in 1985, the 9,265 square foot branch now features red and orange aluminum exterior panels and a fresh entry canopy with new pavers and a purple ceiling that will lead patrons toward the remodeled entryway. [...]
Library Construction Update: New and Renovated Buildings, 01/11/13
By on January 11, 2013 Leave a Comment
For All the People of NYPL | Blatant Berry
By on December 19, 2012 Leave a Comment
To mollify a chorus of protests from some of the intellectual elite of the city and the nation, Tony Marx, president of the New York Public Library (NYPL), got Abby and Howard Milstein to put up the money to make space at 42nd Street to store 3.3 million volumes of 4.5 million planned for remote storage. It was an expensive but responsive move, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy Ada Louise Huxtable, the grand dame of architectural critics who writes for Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Cornell Puts a Lawn in the Library
By on December 18, 2012 3 Comments
It’s increasingly popular for college and university libraries to soothe the savage undergraduate at finals time by providing a dose of contact with nature. Therapy dogs are a common choice, but the Cornell University Library went a more unusual route, installing a ”green sward” which remained there through December 14.
Library Construction Update: New and Renovated Buildings, 12/14/12
By on December 14, 2012 Leave a Comment
Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, MD, recently completed its renovation and expansion of the Andrew G. Truxal Library, an original 1968 campus structure. The 45,000 square foot building gained an additional 32,000 square feet in the $17.2 million project designed by architecture, engineering, and interior design firm EwingCole. [...]
Libraries and Their Landscapes
By on December 11, 2012 3 Comments
When a new public library is planned, it is not only the design that must be considered. The placement of the building in its setting (its landscape) and the design of the landscape together with the building are fundamental parts of the planning process. Unfortunately, architectural endeavors sometimes focus almost exclusively on the building itself. How the building might relate to its setting is often an afterthought. As a result, important opportunities to enhance both the building and its site are overlooked.
Library Construction Update: New and Renovated Buildings, 12/07/12
By on December 7, 2012 Leave a Comment
Hartford Public Library, CT, celebrated its renovated and expanded Dwight Branch (pictured) on December 3. The library was originally founded in 1907 and has now expanded twofold, from 1,100 square feet to 2,200 square feet, in its location connected to the Parkville Elementary School and the Parkville Senior Center. Designed by Tai Soon Kim Partners of Hartford, with general contractor Pioneer Builders of Newington, the renovation increases space for programs and services while updating the building for the modern user.
NYU Medical Library Recovering from Superstorm Sandy
By on December 5, 2012 1 Comment
Weeks after Hurricane Sandy battered New York City, progress continues on the cleanup of New York University’s flood-damaged Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library. The Ehrman facility, the main library of NYU’s Langone Medical Center, hasn’t opened its doors since Sandy made landfall.
Year in Architecture 2012: Waves of the Future [8 Photo Galleries]
By on November 26, 2012 Leave a Comment
This year’s 107 completed public library building projects—completed between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012—display innovative design in partnership with the community and in reference to the past. The data expands to include other costs, storage capacity, and revenue sources, along with our comparative six-year summary. And imagine the ideas you will glean from these galleries of beautiful and striking images. The future is here!
Year in Architecture 2012: Exquisite Exteriors
By on November 26, 2012 Leave a Comment
The East New Orleans Regional Library is one of four new branches replacing those lost to Hurricane Katrina. Going for sustainability, it features fixed exterior sun screens, reflective white surface roofing, dark-sky exterior lights, and low-E tinted windows. CREDITS: Gould Evans Affiliates, P.A., architect; photo, Michael Palumbo. The trifecta of library spaces is provided by [...]
Year in Architecture 2012: The Best of Past and Present
By on November 26, 2012 Leave a Comment
The West Jordan Library & Viridian Event Center, Salt Lake County Library, is the perfect convergence of civic and recreational needs. The design captures the outdoors as flexible event space, with no need to add enclosed program areas. CREDITS: MHTN Architects, Inc., architect; photo, Trevor Muhler Photography. The new Walpole Public Library, MA, more than [...]
