Our wonderful architects, Sara Rothholz Weiner, Michael Roehr and Chris Schmitt have been working hard to rescale the preliminary design plan, which is lovely and aspirational, to a project in keeping with the reality of our budget. It has been very educational for the Core Design Team and the Library Board to see the plan that encompasses many of our needs, and then understand the cost of each of these important elements. The hard choices have to be made about what can be eliminated from the project without impacting the overall goals of accessibility, flexibility and efficiency, and what is essential to the project goals.
We have determined that the Commons area is key to the project success. This is the library space that will house the main entry from Washington, our Service/Circulation desk, holds pick-up, book returns, book and media displays, seating and community and library event information. It will allow us to expand our Children's area on the first floor to double its existing space, and increase 2nd floor usable space by one third by moving the stairway into the Commons. It will be an event space for music and other community events. It allows us to build more accessible restrooms, and a more direct entry into the renovated meeting room. Without the Commons area as the lynchpin, none of this would be possible.
As we continue to refine the design for the budget, we will be working with the architects to also develop the interiors of the library-- the what-goes-where. The Children's staff will be heavily involved in reconfiguring their spaces, as will the Circulation staff in the public service areas and the Core Design Team in overall space design. This will definitely be a joint effort for Library and City staff, with feedback from our Library Board, Friends and Foundation and our library patrons. We have graphic representations of the plan available to view in the library as well as online, and staff are very excited to share these with our patrons. Come by the library and take a look!