Content area
Full text
The year's most impressive new and renovated libraries
Welcome to the 2023 Library Design Showcase, American Libraries' annual celebration of new and renovated libraries that address patron needs in exciting and effective ways. This year's selections represent a return to prepandemic normalcy and demonstrate a firm step into the future, with physical spaces designed to draw in communities, celebrate local history, and acknowledge diverse natural environments. For these overhauls and expansions, form and functionality reign. Ш
San Mateo County (Calif.) Libraries, Atherton branch
This light-filled library sits within this wooded northern California community's newly built civic center complex. The site features front and back porches for quiet reading and community connections, an indoor-outdoor makerspace, and a curved design that embraces the surrounding redwoods. The adjacent historic town hall, built in the 1920s, has been converted into the library's multipurpose event space, and retains elements of its classic California mission style. project type: Adaptive reuse architect: WRNS Studio size: 11,874 square feet cost: $20.1 million photo: Bruce Damonte
* Cincinnati and Hamilton County (Ohio) Public Library, Walnut Hills branch
The oldest branch in its system and the first of several of Cincinnati's Carnegie libraries, Walnut Hills recently underwent its first significant improvements since its construction in 1906. The branch is now fully accessible. The architects preserved its French Renaissance-style details-red brick, a tile roof, and birch-stained mahogany interior paneling-while doubling its square footage, building more meeting and community spaces, and adding a parking lot. project type: Renovation and expansion architect: Fishbeck, Interior Project Management size: 22,820 square feet cost: $12.3 million photo: Kati Best Photography
Kanawha County (W.Va.) Public Library, Main Library in Charleston
The federal building in downtown Charleston, built in 1911, was originally used as a post office and courthouse. The local library acquired the limestone structure in the 1960s and renovated the interior extensively while preserving its classical...