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“Without opportunities for social interaction, places are more insecure, divided and isolated [...] How can you provide value to a landscape that is neglected? How do you provide an opportunity to see your town in a new way?” — The New York Times
Against a national backdrop poisoned by femicides, border politics, and the equally toxic influence of cartels, Fernanda Canales is making democratic life in underserved Mexican communities more feasible through her highly user-sensitive and socializing designs. The Mexico City-based... View full entry
Some big names were on hand last week to celebrate the opening of Gensler and Marvel’s noteworthy new Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) branch in the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. The upgrades now make it the second-largest in the BPL’s system and are part of a larger $52 million land-sale... View full entry
Libraries are playing vital roles in supporting Ukraine's war effort from giving families shelters during Russian bombing raids to making camouflage nets for the military and countering disinformation. — NPR
As reported by NPR, libraries across Ukraine are brimming with activity, full of librarians, readers, refugees, and volunteers. In addition to serving as bomb shelters, they’re hosting the production of camouflage nets for the military, along with home care courses. Libraries are also bringing... View full entry
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... View full entry
Plans for a new library at Gothenburg University have been revealed after a search by the Swedish consulting firm Akademiska Hus to add what is now the newest chapter in the long architectural history of the nation’s second-largest city. Göteborg Universitetsbibliotek. Photo courtesy of... View full entry
The (ALA) has named 13 libraries that were selected to receive a total of $1.3 million to develop their library entrepreneurship centers. Part of Libraries Build Business, an initiative established by Google.org to enable libraries across the country to increase the number of business... View full entry
As restaurants and business across the nation plan to reopen, skepticism towards the long-term safety of these initiatives continues to grow. Although many in the U.S. approach these coming changes with forethought and understanding, several individuals throw caution to the wind and believe the... View full entry
In the weeks following the much-anticipated opening of the Steven Holl Architects-designed Hunters Point Library in Queens, New York City, much of the public discourse regarding the structure has focused on a collection of accessibility and design oversights embodied by the library's design... View full entry
Global architecture firm Snøhetta has completed a sculptural library complex for Temple University in Philadelphia. The Charles Library facility opened its doors for the Fall 2019 semester a few weeks ago and is designed as a collaborative social learning space that reinterprets the... View full entry
In 2011, the New York Public Library established an official unit for digital experimentation—NYPL Labs. Over the six years that followed, what began as a small research and development outfit for special digital projects grew into a visionary think-and-do tank for making the library’s two centuries of collections digital and usable for the years to come. A hybrid team of technologists, librarians, and designers would start to assemble the building blocks of an urban memory infrastructure. — Urban Omnibus
Shannon Mattern, associate professor of media studies at The New School, and Ben Vershbow, founder of NYPL Labs, discuss the recent digitalization efforts undertaken by the New York Public Library system as it works to turn the library's "vast collections into usable data, connecting maps... View full entry
Chicago's West Loop neighborhood celebrated the inauguration of its very first public library last Thursday. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the two-story library — which is the City of Chicago's 81st branch — was once part of the Harpo Studios campus and was donated to the city... View full entry
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... View full entry
Today’s libraries have also evolved into complex institutions compressed into small spaces, making their design needs equally intricate. ... In the end, the problem of how to build good public architecture briskly and frugally has little to do with design and everything to do with bureaucracy. Virtually no one feels the urgency or has the clout to reform a sclerotic system. — New York Magazine
Most of Italy’s splendid old libraries got their starts as the private collections of a humanist noble or cardinal...Where the Angelica is small, plush and perfectly faceted, the Casanatense is spartan and muscular. The Angelica reflects the wealth of its Augustinian founders, whose church, the Basilica di Sant’Agostino, adjoins the library, while the Casanatense shows its Dominican roots in its deep collection of books and codices on Church doctrine and natural history. — NYT
David Laskin reflects on a trip he took, earlier his year, to Venice, Rome, Florence and Milan, where he visited a sampling of Italy's many historic libraries. View full entry
Built to serve Saint-Laurent's diverse community in Montreal, the Bibliothèque du Boisé has collected another honorable accolade. Today, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada awarded the public library with its 2017 Green Building Award. The award will be presented during the RAIC/OAA... View full entry
