Adjaye Associates’ $41.7 million Winter Park Library & Events Center in Winter Park, Florida is now complete. The library debuted to the public on December 13th during a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

Developed through a public-private partnership with the City of Winter Park, the library, spanning 35,155 feet across two levels, consists of three separate pavilions located on the northwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Park. As per the architects, “...this new civic and cultural hub embodies the values of the park’s namesake and is envisioned as a space for community empowerment and edification.” The  pavilions are described as a “micro-village”, in which each have a different scale and function, yet share a common formal language. There’s the two-story library, event center with rooftop terrace, and welcome portico that ushers users from the street and unifies the three structures. They’re each composed of rose-pigmented concrete.

As stated by the architects, “Arches, inspired both by local fauna and the region’s vernacular architecture, establish the form of the pavilions, with vaulted rooflines and sweeping windows creating a porous relationship between interior and exterior, drawing natural light deep into the buildings.”

Flexible floor plates are featured within the library and events center, allowing for maximum adaptability. An open plan within the library supports collection spaces accessible to all ages and abilities, interactive youth and children areas, an indoor auditorium, maker-spaces and technology portals, an entrepreneurship center, and continuing education spaces. The library is supported by four timber-lined cores.

The event center features a flexible auditorium space and rooftop terrace that offers views of the nearby Lake Mendsen. Both the event center and library space feature a signature sculptural stair. 

The Winter Park Library & Events Center replaces a former public library that was built in the late 1970s. The new library increases the youth collection by 30 percent and 50 percent more in meeting space. 

The project employs a range of sustainability strategies including an advanced stormwater management system, on-site solar energy production, and the use of regionally sourced materials including precast façade materials sourced within 25 miles of the site. In addition, the structures, through their overhangs and insulating precast concrete walls, feature passive design strategies.

“It’s been humbling and inspiring to work together with the City of Winter Park and the many local champions of this project to realize this 21st century prototype of a multi-purpose knowledge campus in the public realm,” said Adjaye. “As a centerpiece of the revitalized MLK Jr. Park, the new campus is designed as a robust space for community gathering, edification and empowerment.”