Frugal Innovation: Due to a modest budget, a new building to meet future needs was not possible. So an expansion and renovation was necessary. The shape of the expansion is kept simple. The renovation employees design opportunities using latent qualities of the existing 1950’s building, such as exposing and painting roof girders; relating the new and existing building volumes with color; and animating interior spaces with natural and artificial lighting to differentiate spaces and create an uplifting feeling.
Diversity: Serving a markedly diverse community, the library features a broadly differentiated configuration of programmed areas defined by discrete spatial strategies. The renovation/expansion doubles the size of the former one-story facility and contains a children’s library, assembly spaces, adult literacy program and staff areas.
Deconstruction: By establishing a central circulation spine, the design re-organizes the spatial sequence of the interior, clarifies service points and introduces a full range of public services required by the community