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A FACILITIES SHOWCASE HIGHLIGHTING RECENT LIBRARY CONSTRUCTION AND RENOVATION
The library building boom showed no sign of letting up over the past year. From more than 70 libraries all across the country, photographs flowed in to American Libraries. Across the nation, libraries are doubling or quadrupling in size while adding computer stations, barrier-free bathrooms, elevators, and fireplaces-or just opening new quarters.
The public's apparent love of libraries defies the notion that the growing ranks of mature American taxpayers without kids in school will reject education initiatives. The opposite seems true. After years of staff cuts and shrinking budgets, libraries are racing to keep up with the demand for expanded services and inviting environments, thanks to a flush economy with information-hungry Baby Boomers in the driver's seat.
In this year's Facilities Showcase, American Libraries spotlights 31 recent projects. Note the interesting view on the right of the shipbuilding city of Bath, Maine, from the window of its 1889 Patten Free Library, restored and expanded by TFH Architects. Altoon and Porter Architects renovated and redressed damage to the original 1928 structure of the Felipe de Neve branch library in Los Angeles (top right) after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
Right, the Hillier Group of Princeton, New Jersey, took on a 21,000-squarefoot addition and 33,000square-foot renovation project for Montclair (N.J.) Public Library, maintaining the open planning and
window wall of the twostory entrance atrium. Key to the addition's success and to the library's ability to maintain its downtown location was the architect's use of a minimum of the already crowded site to maximize space without looking crammed.
Right, housing the largest collection of children's materials in Wisconsin, the newly renovated Betty Brinn Children's Room of Milwaukee Public Library is roughly three-quarters of a football field in size and features oval-shaped tables with 30 computer stations. Completed by UihleinWilson Architects, the room features special touches such as the whimsical book display carts in the foreground.
Left, after three years of upward expansion, the Green Library at Florida International University in Miami now seats over 2,000 patrons. Among its Interesting features are 12 group-study rooms, such as the one shown, and 127 research carrels. Architects M. C. Harry and Associates took on the project.
Left, through clerestory detail and 18-foot-high vaulted...