Opening day finally arrived for the Steven Holl Architects-designed Hunters Point Library, which took some 10 tumultuous years of obstacles and ultimately cost over $40 million to realize. Built on a 32,000-square-foot site facing the East River in Long Island City, Hunters Point is a sculptural, standalone building and public park. 

“It is an honor to imagine and realize this community library, a free open public building where people can interact across generations,” Steven Holl said in a statement. “We hope it is a gift to this great city and its future children.”

A 22,000-square-foot, jigsaw-like concrete structure painted in aluminum that gives it a “subtle sparkle,” the library reveals a warm bamboo interior that creates an inviting social and reading space. Large windows on all sides of the building allow ample natural light and provide views of the river. Visitors can move up and along a series of bookshelf-flanked stairs and will encounter the separate children's, teen, and adult spaces of the building's compact yet fluid program. As visitors ascend the stairs, they will eventually reach the rooftop reading garden, which shows off panoramic views of the surrounding city. 

The library's fluid program allows for the most energy-efficient design and maximizes the amount of public green space on the site, SHA says. The east entrance of the library faces a reading garden bordered by a low park office pavilion with ginkgo trees. 

At night, the glowing windows of the new library illuminate its East River waterfront alongside nearby attractions like the city's iconic Pepsi sign and the “Long Island” sign at the old Gantry.

In a recent review of the library, The New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman praised it as “among the finest and most uplifting public buildings New York has produced so far this century. [...] For a growing, diverse community, the whole project is an instant boon and a locus of neighborhood pride for Long Island City.” Kimmelman also asks the big question: “Why can’t New York build more things like this, faster and cheaper?”