Designing a new library building

The library hosted design meetings from 2006 through 2009. A team of USKH designers, led by Matt Prouty and Gary Pohl, presented final plans based on the feedback received at previous design discussions. A few refinements to these plans were made, and the final design submitted to the fire marshall for approval this spring.

• property map and current site plan

• floor plan for the ground level

• floor plan for the second storey

• floor plan for the ground level, with an eventual second (expanded) phase (earlier draft)

The library board was originally asked by the community to work on a design that would make the library building a community center. The librarians settled down for some serious thought and consideration of what our ideal, full-featured new library would incorporate, and came up with a rough list of nifty ideas (below).

Gary Pohl of Wildland Design and interns at USKH created three draft plans, which were refined into one plan. The drafts were discussed at an October 2007 meeting and some basic features decided on. Further refinement of the plans

For examples and resources on green libraries (what we hope to build), please visit the Green Libraries Directory.

Actual designwork is mostly complete; now we need to organize the construction—and fund it. We need a construction team to organize our permitting, contracting, and design work. This includes a contractor or construction manager, a mechanical engineer, and an electrical engineer or master electrician. Please contact the librarians if you would like to help with this. Thanks!

The planning meetings and design presentations: 8/12/09, 1/18/09, 11/2/08, 10/21/07 7/7/07, 12/9/06, 8/27/06, 8/6/06, and 6/16/06.

The list below was our initial grab bag of ideas that we hoped to incorporate into the library's design. These were consolidated over time into something more affordable.

Design features

• expandable building (as the collection grows, the library should be able to grow comfortably too)
• green building, with low energy use, composting toilet, passive and active solar design, superinsulation, recycled and recyclable (low impact) materials, nontoxic materials, natural and full-spectrum lighting (where it won't damage the books), multipurpose furnace, and appropriate environmental controls to preserve the collections
• community oriented: the grounds should include space for a community garden and bicycle/scooter parking;an outdoor reading pavilion/warmup area; the parking lot should not be the prominent feature; the design should include, along with the library collections, space for a conference room, gallery space, museum space, a café and kitchenette, office space, a children's book room, audio/visual booth(s), a map room, an aurorarium/observatory, minerals collection display, a hangout space/lounge (with comfy couch and table), a mud/entry/coat room, and, of course, a utility room. Per the ECA's request, there should be enough common room for the building to be used as a community center.
• site oriented: the building should generate as much of its own power as possible, through solar, hydro, or wind power, or such means as heat differential power generators (i.e., as much independence from oil, coal, and the grid as possible). The building and grounds should fit into their surroundings as though they belong there, looking and operating as part of the community and land.

Planning meetings: 1/18/09 11/2/08 10/21/07 7/7/07 12/9/06 8/27/06 8/6/06 6/16/06

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