LJ's New Landmark Libraries | The New Icons
As prototypes or think tanks, these 20 exciting libraries will inspire the next generation of library buildings By Louise Schaper May 15, 2011
Across the country, new library buildings illustrate how to serve patrons best in spaces that anchor communities, inspire learning, and model what public buildings can be. But where should a librarian look when setting out to build or redesign space for a community—a rare and often singular opportunity in a librarian’s career?
At LJ, after years of tracking new library buildings and renovations and exploring innovations in design, it became apparent that there was no master list of the best libraries to tap, in person or virtually, for inspiration and insight into coming trends. There were, of course, the big-news libraries that anyone diving into library design will discover right away—New York’s historic main, reinventions in Seattle and Minneapolis by Rem Koolhaas and Cesar Pelli, respectively, as well as smaller highly touted projects such as Darien Library, CT, and so many more. LJ wanted to get beyond those to the relatively unknown gems, large and small, that raise the bar, responding to trends in green design and shifts in service models. To do so, LJ decided to select the New Landmark Libraries that will shape the next generation of library buildings.
Treat them as prototypes or use them as think tanks for your next library construction or renovation project—these ten New Landmark Libraries, and ten Honorable Mentions, deliver what you need to know to plan your library of the future.
That puts 20 libraries—spread across the country—on an itinerary for a virtual or real trek that will fill any notebook with great ideas to adapt.
What’s in a New Landmark
The eye-popping concepts in these New Landmark Libraries—like newsrooms, living rooms, kitchens, built-in branding, mica-encrusted siding, and re-dos of mid- to late 20th-century architecture—prove there is a new generation of smart, sustainable, and stunning buildings out there. Designed with the latest service concepts in mind, they put a whole new spin on the relationship between form and function.
A panel of 16 judges, most librarians, a few architects, were brought together to develop criteria and select the first group of ten New Landmark Libraries, focusing on public libraries opened in the last six years.
One judge astutely questioned whether a building could be a landmark without first standing the test of time. Yes, to be a New Landmark Library, it can.
That’s because we define a new landmark as a professional exemplar for someone setting out on a new building project—a library to mine that isn’t as well known as the biggies. There’s plenty to learn from those, of course, but the New Landmark Libraries project is a quest to find and highlight less-well-known library buildings that offer exciting and sometimes paradigm-breaking design in response to community needs and changing times.
To find them, the judges developed six criteria (see sidebar) ranging from quality design and construction to sustainability but also encompassing innovation, functionality, beauty and delight, and response to community context and constraints.
The future of library buildings
Library buildings, which some have predicted would have already gone the way of coliseums, show every sign that they are even more essential. Our winning libraries are regarded as community living rooms for self-learning, experiencing culture, connecting, communicating, and tapping into information and entertainment. And, it seems, no matter the struggles to design and pay for them, after they are built they garner widespread community support, see rapid growth in use, and often transform the neighborhood or community.
Perhaps a counterpoint to the increasingly virtual experience of life, these library centers offer what we all yearn for most—to share a common yet uplifting space in pursuit of core needs.
Libraries are the new economic engines. Where many an enlightened community leader understands that placement of a library spurs economic development, revitalizes decaying areas of town, and stimulates neighborhood growth, very few understand that the design of the library itself has the potential to lift the spirits of the people. That is what makes the difference between good and iconic libraries.
Trends snapshot
The first half of the past decade saw the emergence of many now common library building ideas, such as flexibility, self-service, automated materials handling, wireless, cafés, and sustainability. The second half solidified those innovations and brought forward some new ones. The New Landmark Libraries demonstrate a refinement in the trends of the past decade and showcase newly emergent ideas.
GET GREENER While over half of our New Landmark Libraries are Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certified or awaiting certification, all of them bring a plethora of green building strategies. Sustainably is how libraries are built now. That’s because building green saves a lot of operating money and provides a far more comfortable and healthy space in which to work and visit. Imagine a new building without the unhealthy effects of outgassing. Green buildings mean more money for direct services, because, with the right siting, building envelope, roof material, and windows, along with efficient lighting, plumbing, and HVAC equipment, energy and water costs can be reduced by a minimum of 25 percent a year—if not twice that.
FLEX FOR AN UNFOLDING FUTURE Flexibility, or the relative ease of future changes in how libraries deliver services, is another key trend. While it began to emerge in the 1990s, it is fully embraced by our New Landmark Libraries. Key components are an open floor plan, expansive sight lines, lower shelving and freestanding and adjustable service desks, and, instead of walls, demarcation of zones via shelving units and strategic placement of furniture. Open floor plans are easier to control and, for the Poplar Creek Public Library, IL, that means less vandalism.
USE FEWER AND SMALLER SERVICE POINTS The single point of service represents the greatest shift in service delivery of all the new ideas. Partly reflecting tough economic times that have taken a toll on staffing, a single point of service usually means a combined reference, children’s, teen, and circulation desk that oversees a single-story library, usually under 50,000 square feet. It’s often located in the middle of the action, with all services in view of the desk. As the first in the Phoenix Public Library to adopt a single service point, Agave Library found that an elliptical shape with two access points works best because it eliminates the “back of desk” security issues and maximizes egress. Plus, its location in the library is so visible it needs no signage.
WIN WITH SELF-SERVICE While this trend has been growing throughout the past decade, self-checkout is standard in our New Landmark Libraries. Technologies like RFID and automated materials handling systems along with self-checkout can eliminate the need for additional employees even with vastly increased space, as at the Durango Public Library, CO. At Poplar Creek Public Library, self-service and a slew of automation technologies allowed its circulation staff to get out on the floor to greet people and help them get what they need. Anythink Wright Farms, CO, delights in its decision to put self-check kiosks at the logical place, near the exit, rather than the trendier scatter approach. The result is a whopping 95 percent self-check rate.
THINK COLLABORATION Libraries increasingly acknowledge the collaborative nature of users through the design of group study rooms, but some put together spaces designed especially for collaboration, such as the “newsrooms” at Appaloosa Branch Library, AZ, “Anythink” rooms at Anythink Wright Farms, and collaborative workstations and booths at Hamilton Mill Branch Library, GA.
BORROW FROM MUSEUMS Enough about being like a bookstore. We can see what’s happening to them. Let’s borrow the best ideas from wherever they exist. Really good museums offer a mix of awe, time-resilience, sacredness, and marketing know-how that is ripe for mining. Roseville Library’s (MN) interactive wall within the children’s section and terrazzo maze as the children enter evoke those special kid places in museums. The globe lighting at Poplar Creek Public Library, along with its iconic furniture and “far out” experience, also is a nod to museum-quality spaces.
BE MORE RETAIL-LIKE Thinking “retail” has begun permeating library design. Sadly, it often doesn’t go beyond poor imitations of bookstore display tables or mall façades. With so much to learn about how to market materials and serve customer needs, we’ll likely see more from this trend. Our New Landmark Libraries demonstrate a profusion of refreshingly simple design and service ideas that draw inspiration from retailing principles. They make the inside transparent to the outside, link the library to the rest of the community with pathways and more, cut jargon, and foster browsability—and that’s just for starters. It will be innovation, not replication, that will generate an entirely authentic and uniquely “library” experience.
APPLY A MINIMALIST ETHIC If there is anything that is a given in design it’s change. A decidedly fresh, geometric, and minimalist aesthetic has emerged in many of our New Landmark Libraries. Warm-toned walls and Craftsman style of the late 1990s and early 2000s look decidedly dated against these new, more transparent libraries. Natural materials like stone and wood continue to be popular, but they are given a cleaner approach. Some of our winners, like Agave Library, use self-finishing materials and polished concrete floors, while others like Roseville Library and Poplar Creek Public Library rely on white to form a stark background punctuated by master-planned pops of color to denote portals and differentiate spaces. Anacostia Library in Washington, DC, an Honorable Mention, presents a fresh approach to the same site on which the old library stood. With a big green roof canopy uniting a series of “pavilions,” Anacostia is a modern, bright, and glassy surprise in a neighborhood where very little development has occurred in recent years. Sammamish Library, WA, another glass-walled pavilion with a smart minimalist ethic, relies on nature and an inherent sense of whimsy to infuse warmth and awe. And while some new buildings evoke the past, the best avoid imitating it.
SAVE THE NEIGHBORHOOD We have shopping centers, town centers, and civic centers, so why not “library centers”? Differing from libraries of the past, several New Landmark Libraries offer unique services that meet local needs and expand the library’s reach. Such initiatives can truly transform neighborhoods. A library is an economic development tool, so wherever you put a library you have constant activity during open hours. Nearby shops get more foot traffic. A marginalized area becomes hopeful, safer, and more desirable. Whether you call it “smart growth,” “new urbanism,” or “healthy communities,” libraries are tools for community revitalization and sustainability.
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| Author Information |
| Louise Schaper (lschaper@me.com), retired Executive Director of Fayetteville Public Library, AR, is a Library Consultant and Distinguished Visiting Librarian, New Orleans Public Library |
For more on trends in library design see "The Year in Architecture 2010."
