Growth Potential

A burgeoning population has put the 10,500 square foot Kaukauna Public Library (KPL), WI, at a crossroads: Renovate and expand, or build anew elsewhere? Either way, the library staff and board agree that the building, part Tudor Revival–style Carnegie and part 6300 square foot, 1976 addition, would need to nearly double in square footage; include new infrastructure for technology; accommodate additional meeting, programming, and work spaces; and improve ADA accessibility. They also agree that environmental considerations such as potential flooding (the library sits atop a flood plain) and the building's deteriorating conditions underscore the need for an end result that's sustainable.

Reusing the existing building would allow the library to make use of the energy already embodied in its construction, argued Jeffrey M. Hoover at the breakout session. Hoover, principal of Tappé Associates, a Boston–based firm with a “Leaner, Cleaner, Greener” approach to design and expertise in historic renovations, distributed floor plans of the current library, photographs of its interior and exterior, and, in response to the library and board's receptiveness to sustainability, a list of 19 LEED points he thought attainable given the project's estimated $4 million–$5 million cost.

As he saw it, there were two viable options: remove the 1976 addition and save the Carnegie, or save both the addition and the Carnegie. KPL director Maggie Waggoner agreed the Carnegie should be preserved but noted that it would have to be drastically renovated: “it doesn't work at all the way it is now.”

One of Wisconsin's 63 Carnegie public libraries (most of which have been razed or are no longer being used as libraries), KPL is approximately 100 miles north of Milwaukee and serves a community of some 19,000. Within walking distance are three elementary schools and one middle school; a major state highway extends along its south side. The library sits on an island, its north and south sides divided by a river, and mature oak trees tower at its west. Waggoner had three major concerns about the library's existing conditions:

Its two sets of stairs and 20-year-old elevator make it “terribly nonaccessible” to the disabled

The Carnegie's slate roof has degraded (the 1976 addition has a flat roof—“a problem in and of itself”)

Energy consumption is gravely inefficient (“my office is 62 degrees in the wintertime; the staff uses space heaters”)

To these concerns, Hoover proposed the following ecofriendly solutions:

Replace the current elevator with a holeless hydraulic model, which would eliminate the risks inherent to drilling a jack hole and would cost “a little more, not much,” than an in-ground model.

Grow plants on the roof or install a high-reflective white-roof membrane to reduce the building's carbon footprint. A green roof would block out some of the high sun, while seating areas would absorb the sun and radiate the heat back out.

Install automated lighting control systems to lessen the building's electrical consumption. For the west windows in particular, use landscape elements and building components to shade the library; low heat–transmission glass to limit the amount of incoming heat; and automated internal shades to block out direct sunlight during the sunniest times of day.

When one participant suggested that, some day, the library might flood, Waggoner expressed her frustration over water problems the library's had in the past but said, “I honestly don't know. I've talked to the city engineer who basically said, 'Don't worry about it.' But then, we don't want to spend millions to find out we've got a problem.”

The majority of the group stressed the urgency of raising the library above flood levels. Hoover suggested that Waggoner also consider installing waterless urinals, lo-flow toilets, and smart faucets to reduce wastewater outflow and extending the east-side parking lot with permeable paving to reduce stormwater runoff.

Because of the layout of the land, Hoover said, expansion would have to be westward. “With two stories, what if 50 years from now we need more space?” asked Waggoner, suggesting a vertical addition. “But then who's going to man the third floor?” one participant asked—“and with a third floor, building codes could change,” added another.

Hoover also emphasized the importance of using natural, local materials to reduce the energy consumption involved in transport. “There's a paper mill in our town, a big timber industry,” Waggoner said. Several participants voiced their approval.

By the session's end, Waggoner seemed generally encouraged: “I didn't realize that if we did the addition and the renovation there would be that much we could do as far as sustainability.”

Two months after the breakout session, Waggoner told LJ that the city had postponed the majority of its capital funding until 2009 and decreased the amount by $200,000, to $3 million. In late February, the board unsuccessfully bid on some property for a more centrally located library site; by March, it had decided the best option was to renovate and expand the current building. (Though the community hasn't yet been pulled into the discussion, Waggoner says “at some point we're going to have a public display…to draw attention…and get feedback.”)

In the meantime, pending results from a statewide study of public libraries' economic impact are likely to bolster the library's case for sustainability, a course to which Waggoner says she, her staff, and library board trustees are thoroughly committed. “In the end,” she says, “we want to be “not just a destination as a library but a destination people come to learn what a sustainable building means.”