Archinect - News

Plans for restorative New Lots Library are unveiled in Brooklyn

2024-12-09T14:00:00-05:00

MASS Design and the New York-based Marble Fairbanks Architects are behind a new library project in Brooklyn that combines restorative justice with the needs of the community into one dynamic 25,000-square-foot design.

The forthcoming New Lots Library will be realized on a site historically recognized as a burial ground for former slaves and freedpersons dating to the Revolutionary War era, simultaneously acknowledging their experiences and the fact that slavery as an institution was legal in New York until two decades into the 19th century.

Image credit: MASS Design Group and Marble Fairbanks Architects

Through an extensive community feedback process, both firms have envisioned a library whose activity is centered around a unifying 'Palaver' inspired by traditional African spaces used for collective community gatherings and defined by 'branch-like' radial beams extending outward to cover the reading areas and collection rooms.

Image credit: MASS Design Group and Marble Fairbanks Ar...

Your next role could be leading DC Public Library’s new architecture projects

2024-10-16T11:35:00-04:00

Following our previous look at an opening for an Assistant Professor of Architectural Design, Structures, and Mass Timber at the University of Oregon, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Capital Projects Manager at the DC Public Library.

The role, based in DC with remote opportunities available, calls for an individual to “shepherd the delivery of the assigned new construction and renovation projects” across the library’s extensive portfolio. Among the requirements for the role is a minimum five years of experience in the AEC industry, and a track record of successfully managing concurrent new construction and complex renovation projects.

Related on Archinect: New photos of Mecanoo's refurbished Mies-designed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in D.C. Image credit: Trent Bell

Why the role interests us

The open role at the DC Public Library offers us the opportunity to take a closer look at the architectur...

Snøhetta unveils newly completed Beijing City Library design

2024-02-26T19:31:00-05:00

Snøhetta has shared new photos of its completed Beijing City Library design in the Chinese capital.

What is billed by the team to be the "world's largest climatized reading space" is composed of a glass curtain wall fronted by a forest of sculptural columns resembling ginko trees in a design that harkens the natural landscape to affect an "emotional connection" between people, books, and the environment.

Photo: Yumeng Zhu

Snøhetta says this is meant to challenge contemporary thinking on libraries and to disabuse designers (and critics) of the notion that the typology has become largely outmoded in the digital age.

Photo: Yumeng Zhu

Located in the city’s Tongzhou District, the library design was born out of a 2018 competition that paired the firm with local studio ECADI. Their effort was replete with integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) construction elements and other features aiming to reduce solar gain. This combines with the use of locally sourced construction materials...

Three timeless homes for the arts by Andrew Berman Architect: Your Next Employer?

2023-08-21T14:51:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Phoenix-based Richärd Kennedy Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York this week to explore the work of Andrew Berman Architect.

Founded in 1995, the firm has amassed a portfolio “focused on the revitalization of unique and finally executed buildings and spaces.” Among the resulting honors bestowed upon the firm include a 2021 AIANY Design Award and participation in the Center for Architecture’s 2020 showcasing of New York City’s best municipal buildings.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for an Intermediate Architect. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about the studio’s work, we have rounded up three timeless arts-focused projects by Andrew Berman Architect that demonstrate their design approach.

SculptureCenter. Image credit: Michael Moran / OTTO

SculptureCenter

The SculptureCenter’s 2,000-square-foot addition has been designed to seamlessly...

Snøhetta unveils green design for new Westchester Square Library in the Bronx

2022-12-19T16:24:00-05:00

Snøhetta has recently unveiled designs for a new 12,000-square-foot library project in the Bronx’s Westchester Square it says will expand on the diverse neighborhood’s lineage as a “place where knowledge is acquired and shared for generations to come.”

The new building for the New York Public Library (NYPL) branch is sited next to the historic 131-year-old Huntington Free Library, will come wrapped in a pastoral print fritted glass facade in reference to the Bronx’s status as NYC’s greenest borough and target a LEED Platinum certification through an environmental strategy that includes an array of solar panels, rainwater recycling, a high-performance envelope, and slate of energy conservation measures.

Its two-story interior is organized around a need for natural light in educational spaces and the desire to frame a street-level exterior Viewing Garden that serves as a “counterpoint to the surrounding urban landscape” while adding “visual interest to the indoor experience.”

Image co...

Explore Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects' new Shanghai Library East, one of the largest libraries in the world

2022-10-04T16:50:00-04:00

A massive cultural project from Perkins&Will’s Danish affiliate Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects (SHL) has just debuted in Shanghai. The project provides the city with a "new civic landmark" in the form of what is now one of the largest contemporary libraries in the world.

The form and materiality of the new Shanghai Library East is inspired by ancient Chinese scholars’ Taihu stones and has the capacity to support 4 million visitors and more than 1,200 lectures, seminars, performances, and events annually. Its design is responsive to the changing role modern libraries have in society and boasts that a total of 80% of its space is dedicated to community-enhancing activities.

Image © RawVision.

In October 2017, a year after SHL had won the international competition bid to design the Shanghai East Library, Archienct reported that the project held its official groundbreaking ceremony on September 27, 2017. Five years later, the library opened its doors to the community.

Chris Hardie, de...

New photos of Mecanoo's refurbished Mies-designed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in D.C.

2021-11-19T17:47:00-05:00

Mecanoo has shared updated imagery of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. the firm revamped together with OTJ Architects.

Photographers Robert Benson and Trent Bell have provided new photos detailing the modernization of the landmark building that was completed in 1972 as Mies van der Rohe’s only library design and final act as an architect.

Following a three-year transformation, the library opened to the public on September 25th but has gone largely undocumented thanks to restrictions over the coronavirus, which shut out much of the renovated areas from public view since its official reopening in October 2020.

Scroll down to have a look at a selection of the latest photos and learn more about the project here.

Image © Trent Bell

Image © Robert Benson

Image © Trent Bell

Image © Robert Benson

...

Gould Evans receives 6th Chicago Athenaeum Award with adaptive reuse library project

2021-11-15T15:21:00-05:00

Gould Evans is no stranger to executing award-winning library and community-focused projects as a nationally recognized architecture and design firm. From the expansion of the 1970's Brutalist-style Lawrence Public Library to the renovations of New Orleans Public Libraries, the team at Gould Evans just added another prize-winning library project to their portfolio, the Olathe Indian Creek Public Library.

The building has received accolades like the Honor Award by AIA Kansas City for its concept of developing a hub for "community and content creation — instead of only content consumption." On November 4, it was announced that the firm received its 6th Chicago Athenaeum Award for the Kansas-based project. The institution's American Architectural Awards program highlights new and "cutting-edge" design projects within the United States.

Image © Michael Robinson/Courtesy of Gould Evans

The firm's Associate Principal Sean Zaudke shared: "Libraries of today are no longer about books or ma...

10 libraries and reading spaces we liked this week

2021-03-26T14:41:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Learning Spaces.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ The Church in Sag Harbor, NY by SKOLNICK Architecture + Design Partnership

↑ The Grolier Club in New York, NY by Ann Beha Architects; Photo: Michael Moran

↑ Cruzen-Murray Academic Library, College of Idaho in Caldwell, ID by Richärd Kennedy Architects; Associate Architect: McKibben + Cooper; Photo: Gabe Border Photography

↑ NLL Children's Library in Riga, Latvia by GAISS; Illustrations: Rūta Briede; Photo: Ansis Starks

↑ Earl G. Graves School of Business & Management in Baltimore, MD by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF); Architect of Record: Ayers Saint Gross; Photo: Tim Griffith

↑ <OOZOORO 1216> : Tween Section...

MAD Architects' "Wormhole Library" offers open-air performance space

2020-08-10T13:40:00-04:00

MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, have released the design of the Wormhole Library, which will sit on the coast in Haikou, Hainan Province in China. The library will serve as a multi-functional building that will invite visitors to enjoy views of the sea, read through a collection of about 10,000 books, and attend open-air performances.

The project comes as a response to the local government's rejuvenation plan for Haikou Bay to enhance the use of public space along the coastline. As a part of the project, a series of pavilions by a number of local and international architects are currently under planning and the Wormhole Library will be the first to be completed.

The building is a large structure cast as a single piece of white concrete, giving the architecture an aesthetic characteristic similar to that of a wormhole, with its curving organic geometries. The building is being cast using both a CNC and 3D-printed model to ensure accuracy and mitigate any margins for error.

Even th...

With help from the local community, Michael K. Chen Architecture designs new Children's Library for a Bronx homeless shelter

2018-12-07T15:29:00-05:00

Many of us fondly look back on childhood memories of going to the local library. The new Children's Library at the Concourse House — a Bronx-based shelter that serves women with young children who are transitioning out of homelessness — was created to bring that meaningful, formative experience to kids who may not have access to their own books.

Designed pro-bono by New York-based Michael K. Chen Architecture (MKCA), the Children's Library took over an underused mezzanine space in the shelter. Underneath a vaulted ceiling, it now offers a welcoming, playful learning environment that's flexibly designed for individual and group readings, story time, and other book-related programming.

Photo: Alan Tansey.

The space sure wouldn't feel like a library without the round, illuminated shelving unit, which is now filled with about 1,200 children's books donated by Sisters Uptown Bookstore. The shelving unit also serves as a permeable protective barrier be...

A closer look at "the eye" in MVRDV's Tianjin Library

2016-06-22T14:29:00-04:00

While pronounced ocular structural features are not unheard of (consider the exterior of DS+R's Broad Museum) Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV, is drawing attention to his firm's mirrored spherical auditorium sited in the almost complete 34,200 square meter Tianjin Library.

“The Eye is the centre of the library," Maas explained in a press release. "It ‘hollows out’ the building and creates, out of bookshelves, an environment to sit, to read, to hang out, to climb and to access, to create an organic social space. In its heart is the auditorium which mirrors the environment, giving a 360 degree panorama of the space inside; a truly reflective and pensive environment.”

The library will likely open to the public by mid-2017.

What else is MVRDV up to?

Stacked: Archinect's comparison of Fujimoto and Tschapeller's library stacks

2015-08-13T20:53:00-04:00

Instead of being mainly a weight distribution problem for architects, library book stacks are increasingly becoming art installations in cavernous contemplation halls. This is especially evident in Wolfgang Tschapeller's renderings for the Ho Fine Arts Library at Cornell University, in which an ascending, four-story block of books is selectively accessed through staircases (see header image).

Sou Fujimoto takes a slightly different tack, creating a maze-like series of largely empty bookshelves that showcase the winding quest for knowledge more than the actual books they are ostensibly designed to hold.

So which design is more effective, both in terms of reflecting the changing nature of how we access books and of creating spaces for contemplation and study? Fujimoto has the advantage here; he is designing a completely new building. His agility with blurring boundaries between indoors and out is exquisitely realized, creating an airy, if labyrinthine, experience.

Tschapeller, on the o...