Q&A: Peter Gisolfi, Peter Gisolfi Associates

By Raya Kuzyk -- Library Journal, 5/15/2006

Peter Gisolfi is the founder and senior partner of Peter Gisolfi Associates and chair of the Department of Architecture, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture at City University of New York. In addition to expanding and renovating the Bronxville and Rye, NY, libraries (completed in 2001 and 2004, respectively) mentioned below, his firm was responsible for designing and constructing a new library building for the Dobbs Ferry Public Library, NY (completed in 2003), and is currently designing a new library to be the focus of a central square in Darien, CT. LBD talked to him about working with librarians, green-building, and more.

PG: I’d advise librarians to be boldly analytical and dispassionate about what’s actually there with exercises that assess functional assignment, frequency/intensity of use, and traffic patterns. You may have a major transformation on your hands, but you won’t know that until you analyze all the conditions.

How much planning for the future is too much, i.e., when it comes to accommodating possible changes in usage?

The current technique of construction leaves a lot more accessible space hidden than in older buildings. But some planners design big open spaces that can be broken up into different arrangements in the future, and the result is poorly defined functional areas with no real aesthetic interest. It is better to provide just a few options for the future and create a library with varied and well-defined areas.

What are some of the more prudent green design measures and are they necessarily always more expensive?

Usually they don’t cost more at all. The operation of a library building is very steady—it’s constantly in use—and so many of the alternate energy systems give you steady energy, no jump (as, say, using a huge auditorium once a week might). With this kind of constant use, geothermal energy is very compatible with library design. Typically, we’ll find we can heat and cool a building for 60 percent of the cost of how it’s currently being done.

Do libraries usually request such measures be taken, or do you sell them on the idea?

We just submitted our credentials to a library in North Carolina, and one of the first things we were asked was, do you have marine-building experience? Have you done green libraries? People are educated about these things now, they realize the advantages, and it’s what they want from the get-go. In many cases, not only are they demanding it for new buildings but for old buildings as well.

Your firm promotes an integrative philosophy wherein the library and its surrounding environment together determine how the building functions in its community as well as overall. Can you offer an example of where this philosophy has been successfully implemented?

In Rye, NY, we expanded the public library, which is on a green, by putting the entrance to the public meeting room right on the street, thereby increasing its presence on the green. The subliminal message was, three buildings are facing each other, and the library is in the center—right in the heart of the community. The town green is the most important space, and many libraries ignore it. You can have library book sales on the green, all sorts of activities that broaden the library community by taking it outdoors. We just expanded the Bronxville Public Library, NY, so that it now has a big bow window three floors up that looks right out onto the green and embraces the green more emphatically.

During the months-long construction process, is there anything librarians can do to optimize patron comfort and use?

If possible, of course, you want to keep the library in business. And there should be a very clear boundary between construction and the open parts of the library. It’s an issue of managing the event, really. If librarians are excited about it, patrons will be excited, too, and won’t find it an annoyance. You determine your own fate.

In the 15 years you’ve been designing and constructing libraries and the roughly 25 libraries on which you’ve worked, what meaningful change have you noticed?

I’ve seen the public library increasingly become the community center, the place everybody goes to for more than just information. It seems to fill so many more needs now. Also, when I started, things were quieter. I used to go to the library as a kid, and it would be “Shhh.” Now there’s more energy, more happening around you, though, of course, you also have the option of finding refuge in your own tranquil spots.

Of all the library projects you have worked on, which has been the most personally satisfying?

My favorite library is always the one I happen to be working on. But we did a real transformation in Bronxille, the library I used to go to as a child. We took it from 1942 to 2002 and kept the same spirit of this Georgian building, which was constantly full of activity, a gallery and a library—very unusual. My job isn’t to come in and change everything. I’m completely determined to build something that belongs where it is and belongs to the people who use it.