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Emerging Public: The Public Library's Role in Building Community

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B.Arch Thesis – A Public Library: An Approach To Regeneration, At Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, Maharshtra, India, by Ishita Parmar

• July 11, 2017

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ABSTRACT : In today’s time with the emergence of the internet and digitalization of the books and information, this has enormously influenced the manner in which we consume information. With the developments of new methods and types of media, the traditional role of a public library is to question. The significance of the physical collection within a certain environment versus a quick internet search at any given point of time within any environment, questions the sustainability of a public library and the resources it offers.

Library needs to be transformed as an active social space. A public library is just not a space to access physical and digital data but also create an environment to initiate interaction of people and exchange of ideas takes place amoung all people of diverse backgrounds and age groups visiting the library.

Public library; the most democratic and one of the few spaces under the public realm of the city have tremendous potentials to transform into value-addition as community information, knowledge, resource and service centers.

What is a Library?

The public library, the local gateway to knowledge , provides a basic condition for a lifelong learning, independent decision making and cultural development of the individual and social groups. – UNESCO Manifesto, 1994

Changing concepts of a Public library

Traditional libraries have quickly redefined themselves as hybrid libraries which are a combination of a conventional library and a new electronic network library.

The rise of the internet and digitalized content makes the policy makers librarians and public believe that the public library is losing its relevance. This conviction is reflected in the way a lot of libraries are transforming. The most clear and observant shift is that libraries are no longer describing their primary role as being a provider of information. The evolution of the role of library in society over the centuries from private resource to civic monuments to a functional building to living room of the city is today in flux. In this multiplicity of roles of the library extends itself further in service of a multi-faceted society, challenging conjectures of its impending obsolescence.

Libraries are civic spaces where knowledge is circulated in all media. The systematic arrangement of the data, the reading spaces and the interaction with the librarian, derived from a user pattern enhance the user experience. There will be spaces where these functions overlap like the reception spaces, the large atriums and the reading halls where there is visual and physical connection with the other spaces providing a multi-generational experience. The play of natural light and the expansive reading hall, the connection of the inside to the outside, formal and informal reading spaces, data collection (physical entities such as books, newspapers, magazines, is to computer rooms), provide a sense of volume to which the user relate, giving a dual experience to all kinds of people entering the library. Libraries also play a major role in providing literacy to the homeless, giving rise to knowledge societies.

• Low literacy rates
• Limited access to technology
• Limited availability of linguistically relevant reading material
• Lack of national policies for promotion of ICT as a tool for development, political and administrative matters.

The Need for Regeneration:

The reason that libraries continue to exist is their ability to adapt. Libraries adopt to the changing priorities and the changing economic status of their service areas. Libraries being most democratic and community centric points are perceived to be under threat from a shrinking public realm one side and digitalization on the other hand. Today with social media libraries serve many customers who never even come to the library, but yet libraries must continue to build flexible spaces to accommodate new uses and new technologies. While libraries may need to house fewer physical materials, they need space for their members to generate their own materials and space for the community to come together and share ideas. Regeneration would allow public library to behave as community information, knowledge, resource and information center.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

• To understand reasons for unequal distribution of knowledge. Studying the various formal and Informal mediums of Education.
• To study the changing trends of mediums of information and knowledge resources in terms of suiting the user requirement.
• To understand the role of a public library not only as a storage of books but also in terms of individual development.
• To study the variety of users/readers coming to a public library in terms of the age, background etc.
• To understand allied functions of public library as a cultural hub.
• To understand social role and social relevance of a public library.
• To formulate a design solution or regeneration of a public library such that it provides basic literacy and social development goals and at the same time become a center of exploration and innovation for the people of the community.

OBJECTIVES:

Provide access to knowledge in printed and other formats to support formal and informal education. To actively support literacy campaigns as literacy is the key to education and knowledge.

Play a key role in collecting, organizing and exploiting information as well as providing access to a wide range of information sources. To bridge the gap by providing public access to the internet as well as providing information in traditional formats.

Provide access to major collections of the world’s literature and knowledge, including the community’s own literature. Make fundamental contribution to daily survival and social and economic development by being directly involved in providing information to people of developing countries. To provide basic user education.

To meet the needs of the children and young people.

An important role of the public library is providing a focus for cultural and artistic development in the community helping to shape and support the cultural identity of the community. This can be achieved by working in partnerships with the appropriate local and regional organizations. The public library has an important role as a public and meeting space. This is particularly important in communities where there are few places people meet, sometimes addressed as “the drawing room of the community.”

DESIGN BRIEF and PROGRAM:

The library building situated in Kharghar will be a cohesive set of strategies for spaces, function , structure, climate sensitivity, vertical circulation wind and ventilation, biodiversity, urban ecology and iconicity.

Navi Mumbai acting as twin city to the city of Mumbai, is set to become a smart city. Kharghar, out of the 14 nodes of Navi Mumbai is identified as a “smart city” “brownfield project”, by CIDCO , to be developed having the state of the art amenities and plans for improving social and civic amenities. Kharghar as mentioned earlier is primarily a residential and institutional town, the home of major schools, colleges and educational institutions will be a booster for the viability and sustenance of the public library.

The idea is to understand and establish relationship with the components being:

• RESOUCES PROVODED
• SPACES: FORMAL AND INFORMAL
• USER / READER

of the public library building generating the institution to behave as an open public forum and as a urban catalyst to keep stimulating the process of creating intellectual communities.

The spaces will be planned on the principle of flexibility and adaptability to cater to the current needs of user population, library staff, and library media along with the changing face of the public library as a social and cultural space.

APPROACH TO DESIGN:

The derivation of the program based on the categories and the site lead to an instant reaction of the floor plates to be stacked. This process lead to an understanding of two major components of the design that is the floor plates and building floor plates since it is a singular block building.

The Vertical Zoning: The stacking arrangement of floor plates is based on the idea of compartmentalized flexibility where each floor plate is self-contained with a specific activity and the services required for its efficient functioning but still inter-related through the interplay of floor plates and a set of external stairs behaving as social spots.

The Façade: The façade grid has its origin back to the smallest component of a public library being “the book” which led to the development of a bookshelf. The façade/skin of the building is essentially consisting of 3

FRAMES each performing a specific function: FRAME 1: active frame consisting of the bookshelf FRAME 2: curtain glazing: weather responsive FRAME 3: Skeleton or the interface of the building and the surrounding and vice versa.

The three frames form an integral part of the design as they also facilitate an alternative route of exploring the building with the external stairs allowing the users/readers to come across various activities at different levels.

Ishita Parmar

• Architecture education , B.Arch Thesis , mumbai

One Response

Hey, I’m an architecture student and was willing to take public library as my thesis topic. Could you pls tell that is this the proposed site or a hypothetical one?

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Reimagining the Public Library as Public Space

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Once regarded as the public’s center of knowledge and information, public libraries today are challenged by the rise of mobile technology and the Internet. Information behavior of everyday library patrons have transformed to rely on instant access of information through Google search instead of the resources housed in their local libraries. The focus of public library design is shifting from storing & protecting valuable resources (books) to the experience of an active public space of learning, engaging and reading.

This thesis reimagines a public library branch in East Baltimore City by evaluating the architecture of public library examples of the past and of today. By understanding the user experience of the three key elements of public library design – procession, services & flexible space - a new public library design that engages and responds to the local community can be proposed.

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Design Dissertation: A Public Library: An Approach to Regeneration at Kharghar, Navi Mumbai

A Public Library: An Approach to Regeneration at Kharghar, Navi Mumbai By Ishita Parmar

In today’s time with the emergence of the internet and digitalization of the books and information, this has enormously influenced the manner in which we consume information. With the developments of new methods and types of media, the traditional role of a public library is to question. The significance of the physical collection within a certain environment versus a quick internet search at any given point of time within any environment , questions the sustainability of a public library and the resources it offers. Library needs to be transformed as an active social space. A public library is just not a space to access physical and digital data but also create an environment to initiate interaction of people and exchange of ideas takes place amoung all people of diverse backgrounds and age groups visiting the library. Public library; the most democratic and one of the few spaces under the public realm of the city have tremendous potentials to transform into value-addition as community information, knowledge, resource and service centers.

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Congratulations to the achievers,

The results of B.Arch. course of University of Mumbai is declared recently and 4 students of IES’s College of Architecture are among top 10 ranks.

Prathamesh Patil is the University topper with agold medal. his CGPI is 9.81

Sujay Zende secured 3rd Rank with CGPI 9.70

Sayam Mulani Secured 4th Rank with CGPI 9.69 Sayam is also a top ranker of sem X with SGPI 10

Gargi Kulkarni secured 8th Rank with CGPI 9.51

Public Library Design

At VMDO, we understand that libraries serve a pivotal role in the civic landscape. We begin our approach to library design by focusing on the user experience and prioritizing design strategies that embrace innovations in technology and shifting patron needs.

VMDO Architects

We carefully attend to the community’s wider goals and craft architecture finely tuned to the spirit of a location. As your architect, we will:

Incorporate constituent input.

Designing a public library means incorporating the input of a variety of community stakeholders. We understand how to engage a complex network of users and staff in a fluid and effective design process. Stakeholder involvement ensures that our buildings resonate with the needs and culture of your community.

Attend to critical construction details.

VMDO brings decades of library design experience to your project. We are familiar not just with library spaces, but also with library construction. We understand what works and what doesn’t. We attend to the critical details so that your building will perform efficiently and effectively well into the future.

Design for the location.

We are committed to the long-term care and development of your community. We understand that our buildings will make an impact on a place for years to come. We work hard to ensure that our design reflects the unique and diverse qualities of the place it serves.

Library Planning Through a Local Lens

The role of the public library is rapidly evolving. Most libraries are striving to better tune their programs and public spaces to their community’s evolving needs and expectations. For instance, the growing demand for meeting rooms and smaller group study areas suggests that libraries need to implement an even more efficient approach to collection storage and display and dedicate more room to children’s, teen, and tween spaces. The pandemic also surfaced a deep need for outdoor amenities that promote gathering, socializing, and learning spaces that bolster community. Working with our clients, we design libraries that meet the present-day expectations of their communities and that serve patrons well into the future. VMDO knows the critical importance of engaging communities in the planning phase of projects. We thrive in collaborative settings where our team of planners and designers can cater to the unique needs of end-users to create a truly transformational library space that serves every community member. We work hard to balance functional issues and economic factors with the best planning resources for a 21st-century library that will reflect the values and needs of all constituents.

In planning for a new library, we can help identify the best site and ensure the team considers all necessary variables during this important stage of the project, such as stitching the library building and site to existing (and developing) transit infrastructure. We use our deep experience to consider the costs and benefits of an existing site and evaluate whether other sites should be considered. When working with existing libraries, we can help determine whether the facility is worth renovating, or whether a full replacement would be a smarter investment. Ultimately, with each project, we create libraries that can accommodate the growing demand for large group gathering spaces and flexible, adaptive learning and teaching spaces for individuals and small groups.

Designing for the 21st Century Library

Today’s Public Library

What Type of Library do you Want to be?

Public Libraries – An Evolving Home for Civic Engagement and Lifelong Learning

While each public library must respond to specific local conditions, broad currents trace the outline of what it means to be a 21st-century public library. All public libraries share a mandate to provide a physical and digital space to access and create information, in all its forms, and to integrate what happens on-site with what happens online. communitiesAnd for many libraries, their mission is being further broadened to include providing meeting places, and social services, housing local historical records and artifacts, hosting emergency service providers in times of need, and expanding what can be borrowed to include things like tools and toys –all exciting developments in the way the library of the future must be prepared to adapt to expanding user expectations.

As planners and designers, we focus on how these paradigmshifting developments are reshaping relationships between people and their environments. A 21st-century public library requires adequate space for content creation, innovative programming, and collaborative learning environments. In some cases, this means altering the proportion of space reserved for physical collections to provide more space for people. Reconsidering this balance can help address the growing need to host group activities, something that most library systems already are anticipating. Realigning service models can also impact space allocation. It is likely that staff may be asked to play new, more proactive, predictive, and visible roles than ever before, which suggests that spaces must be actively programmed to draw people in to create more dynamic community-centered spaces. As a result, these spaces in the library need to be more flexible to accommodate a broader set of activities, configurations, and

time periods. And rather than each space being a discrete area, environments should blending together so people can easily move from browsing shelves and exhibitions to grabbing a cup of coffee and reading quietly, to working on a group project within a matter of a few feet.

As libraries adapt to these changing needs and evolving technologies, they need to generate new ways to describe themselves to, and share themselves with, the broader public. In this way, the libraries that we design try to be well ahead of the trends to embrace the library as an epicenter of community life – as a social and cultural hub, a center for municipal services and resources, and a place for patrons to access digital technologies. Our projects advance the essential role libraries play in providing access to “K to Gray” lifelong learning opportunities and enhancing the literacy of the local citizenry. They expand the strong tradition of providing spaces for innovation and discovery. We build upon the legacy of the preservation of historical and cultural assets of regional and national significance. We help forge partnerships with local non-profits, clubs, and organizations to expand the library’s role in its neighborhood and region and help draw more users to the building. Ultimately, the work done because of each new project has an untold positive impact on many current and future users across generations to come.

What Kind of Library Do You Want to Be?

We view each library project as an opportunity to create a collaborative vision of a new library. Our process begins with prompting our clients to give voice to their ideas, dreams, and hopes for their project. We ask questions such as, what kind of experiences do you want to prioritize? What sort of resources do you want to promote? What sort of environment do you want to create for collaboration? For learning? For fun? The following list presents thematic descriptions of components of our past library projects. What combination best represents you?

Creating a New Heart of the Community

A Community Event Center

The Community Center Library provides a range of memorable indoor and outdoor spaces that host an everexpanding range of performances, readings, community gatherings, galas, and learning experiences. The welcoming and open design embraces users from across ages, races, genders, and interests, making the library a wildly popular meeting place for the community’s diverse patron groups. This library offers both indoor and outdoor spaces for events and permits activities to spill out into the landscape to take advantage of natural areas around the building.

The Tech Hub Library makes accessing the most current digital technologies easy and understandable to all. It offers not only basic computing platforms, but also newer technology like 3D printers, thermal imaging hardware, podcast and video recording equipment and a range of portable devices, making the new branch the go-to place for all things tech. A “One-button” design approach ensures that patrons and staff can easily and reliably activate the necessary technology, using a single button to operate an array of digital tools.

A Living Room

At the Living Room Library, patrons can count on finding a home away from home – a place that can provide resources and opportunities unavailable to them elsewhere, in a secure, accessible, and welcoming environment. The new building centers the user experience by offering up a convivial environment that is well-lit, comfortably furnished, and constructed with natural materials. Children, teens, and adults will all discover spaces and programming that are custom-built to help them feel welcome and allow them to connect with the library in personally meaningful ways.

A Bustling Intersection

Libraries are community crossroads: places where people from different walks of life, diverse cultural backgrounds, different political affiliations, and myriad artistic and intellectual interests all converge for the sake of expanding their horizons and participating in something larger than themselves. The Bustling Intersection creates the right physical conditions to make both chance encounters and planned gatherings enjoyable, stimulating and rewarding. Oftentimes, this type of library is intentionally located to take advantage of existing foot traffic and leverages preexisting civic infrastructure to amplify its presence in a community.

An Information Station

A common refrain of the digital revolution is that there’s simply too much information out there from too many sources. The Information Station is a well-reputed clearing house for facts that can be substantiated from sources that can be verified. The staff in this library are positioned to assist with research projects and given the collaborative spaces necessary to engage with patrons to aid them in their pursuits. This type of library promotes accessibility to all forms of knowledge and offers information ranging from the traditional (books, newspapers, magazines, and CDs/DVDs) to the digital.

A Center for Well-Being

Human health is not the absence of sickness – it is the active pursuit of healthy lifestyles and the many important aspects that help lead to them, such as nutrition and healthy eating habits, sleep and rest, mental wellness, meditation, and deep breathing. Libraries can and should provide the resources necessary to bring the concepts of healthy living to their patrons. . Blood pressure machines, exercise equipment, nutritionist office hours and demonstration kitchens are all growing in popularity, as federal and state funding for health programs face an uncertain future. By providing both structured and informal tools to help educate patrons about healthy lifestyles, the Center for Well-Being plays an out-sized role in improving a community’s outlook on life.

Space Planning + Design Strategies

Inventory of Spaces for the Modern Library

Key Factors in the Planning Process

VMDO Library Experience

Inventory of Spaces in the Modern Public Library

The role of the public library in its local neighborhood is rapidly adapting to the expanded needs of the community it serves. A modern library includes versatile spaces that accommodate a variety of services, both physical and digital. The core of our work is expanding the notion of what a library can be and positioning today’s public library as a community hub for the creation and exchange of information. We provide a keen understanding of spatial opportunities with proven design expertise across the entire span of potential program elements. What unites these spatial types is a holistic vision of “community” – all under one roof.

The images on the opposite page illustrate some of the types of spaces we have designed for libraries like yours – flexible, fun, dynamic, rooms for learning, making, collaborating, and reflecting.

KEY FACTORS TO CONSIDER DURING THE PLANNING PROCESS

Embrace change.

The 21st century has given rise to tremendous shifts in how information is created, disseminated, and digested. The Internet, wireless computing, and touch-screen technology have all contributed to a growing expectation for information to be provided on-demand and in increasingly flexible formats. The library serves as an intellectual gobetween, helping users wade through the incredible amount of information that exists while fostering new methods of search and discovery.

At the same time, educational and occupational changes require new tools to facilitate digital collaboration. Touch-tables, interactive media surfaces, 3D printing, and the integration of technology into furnishings are being incorporated into libraries at a rapid rate. To stay ahead of the curve, the library must adapt to changes in existing infrastructure and equipment while embracing new systems and technology as they become available.

Serve Patrons More Effectively

At the heart of any new library design is the chance to re-envision the way visitors and staff interact and how staff from various departments collaborate to serve patrons. In our planning process we study ways to re-imagine the interface between librarians and patrons at the front desk and throughout the library. Developments in library service models suggest patrons prefer more friendly and informal interactions with library staff. In some cases, this calls for subtle shifts in the configuration of circulation desks to make them more welcoming and less of a barrier. Should a library find it helpful, VMDO can prototype alternatives to ensure that the proposed circulation desk and satellite staff locations work in realtime and in the manner intended.

Honoring the Importance of Quiet Contemplation

Include Dynamic Technology

Today’s public library is undergoing a transformation in how it responds to the multifaceted needs and expectations of various user groups. Given the waning reliance on physical resources and the parallel advances in technological innovation, the library of tomorrow must devote a far greater share of its space to users seeking comfortable, flexible environments that can host a range of physical and digital activities. As mobile computing and communication become more ubiquitous, municipalities around the country are finding that hybrid library environments capable of hosting a range of complementary services are becoming highly sought-after hubs of everyday activity.

Wireless network access dramatically increases the number and kinds of settings available to those with their own mobile computing devices. However, dedicated desktop computing platforms are important assets for those without devices of their own and play a big part in helping the library level the playing field when it comes to the democratic distribution of resources across demographics. We collaborate with our clients and library staff to ensure that every user, no matter their technology fluency, benefits from the same exposure to the most current trends in computing. We will work to create a truly cutting-edge technology hub that not only supports innovation in the community, but also doubles as a resource for librarians and patrons experimenting with the creation of new digital programming and virtual services. If the pandemic taught us anything, it is that remote learning, video conferencing, and virtual asset creation are all important facets of this new world in which we operate. Today’s public libraries need to support advances in these areas to remain relevant and to fulfill their evolving role as technology centers for their communities.

Consider Your (Site) Options

Like other democratic institutions that play an important civic role in a community, the library deserves a prominent place in the landscape. Site selection is a pivotal part of any project, and never more so than when planning a new library. With nearly four decades of experience designing public buildings, college and university campuses, community centers, and athletic facilities, VMDO is especially well-suited for this aspect of each project. We relish the opportunity to collaborate with the library and its community to identify, study, and weigh the benefits and limitations of possible sites, and then craft a clear set of recommendations that are data-based and also recognize the many subtle delights that should be inherent in a home for a new library facility.

We understand that a library, regardless of location, ought to include the infrastructure necessary to safely orchestrate the utilitarian aspects of daily use (a welllocated book drop, an intelligent parking configuration that

promotes the use of a pick-up/drop-off window, accessible and well-lit paths) while also supporting the essential public activities planned for the site (outdoor gathering spaces, gardens, planting areas, and stormwater facilities). We prioritize these important site and landscape issues each project and only advance the building design once these foundational aspects of the plan are considered and satisfactorily resolved.

Tantamount to good library site design is the way the site creates links to the surrounding neighborhood fabric. We expect each library to be so well-stitched to its surroundings that it naturally draws in users from popular pedestrian paths, greenway trails, bus routes, and bikeways in addition to car travel. In this way, our work reinforces the idea that libraries and library programming are for everyone and should be effortlessly accessible to everyone.

House a Rich Mix of Uses

Our planning and design efforts emphasize the importance of crafting a dynamic overlap of spaces designed for a rich mix of uses. This can include a freshened user interface and arrival experience, improved wayfinding and signage, learning spaces with auxiliary and administrative services, well-designed and naturally daylit staff spaces, group meeting, and activity spaces, informal study spaces, technology resources, and a wide range of options for recreation, entertainment, performance, and community engagement. During the early planning phases, our team helps identify program components from both within and beyond the current scope of library services that might help enhance the overall library experience. When bundled with traditional library offerings, supplemental programs and partnerships from across the community can help activate the library in novel ways and create an experience that achieves a heightened level of social and civic relevance.

Craft Lively Public Space for Events and Activities

A good public library is akin to a neighborhood living room – a comfortable, welcoming space where individuals can gather to meet, discuss the day’s events, and advance ideas that will help create a better future. Given this significant civic obligation, the work we do carefully considers how each library helps support the myriad meetings, forums, and public events that occur throughout the year. Meeting spaces often form an important backbone for the organization of a modern library. They are typically located prominently within new buildings. They offer a range of configurations depending on the kinds of gatherings hosted, from community meetings to recreational courses and receptions of all kinds. Their essential role in public discourse means that meeting spaces need to be universally accessible, well-lit, acoustically calibrated, and comfortable for all that use them. The VMDO team capitalizes on our 45 years of cumulative experience by working with our clients to provide a broad array of flexible gathering spaces and craft a carefully tailored design that offers a range of experiences to meet the needs of users for many years to come.

Plan for Flexibility

As the major provider of flexible public space and communal assets, libraries need to offer an extremely robust set of spaces to support and enhance the many activities in a community. This should include discreet adult, teen, and children’s areas with ample space for individual and group activities. Our team’s deep portfolio of educational work includes spaces custom-designed and built to the unique needs of each age groups, ideally situating our team to understand how each subset of users works, learns, and plays. A thriving community building should need no instruction manual or opening-day tutorial. A ‘plug-and-play’ quality should pervade the vast array of rooms and program areas across the building, regardless of user age, interest, and ability. We have developed a menu of spaces that appeal to all types of patrons and different user needs, ranging from quiet to bustling, leisurely to active, and intimate to spacious. All areas within each new library should be equipped with the infrastructure necessary to augment the technologies that patrons are increasingly bringing themselves, and all areas should be configured to accommodate future upgrades that are increasingly necessary to remain relevant.

Connect Users to Resources

A library’s service philosophy is the best benchmark for understanding how an institution plans to manage and share its resources. Ideally this philosophy is developed early in the design process with input from administration, staff, and users so that it can help guide decision-making and set expectations for the intricacies of the library’s operation.

Many libraries are eliminating perceived barriers between patrons and staff and instituting “side-by-side” service points. Inspired by the hospitality industry, these concierge stylestations create the impression that staff and patrons are working as a team to problemsolve and locate resources. As questions arise, tiers of experts stationed in Integrated Service Points (ISPs) are ready to engage patrons, field their concerns, and either direct them to a solution or to another expert with more familiarity with a particular topic or issue.

Optimize SelfService Options + Mobile Navigation

To extend the reach of library services and the availability of information, innovative libraries are providing more self-service options with the assistance of new technologies. Information kiosks positioned in strategic locations help visitors navigate the building, reserve study rooms, request books, and order resources from other partner libraries.

Using smartphones, tablets, or laptops, patrons can access these same resources wirelessly, making the process of visiting the library an effortless experience. In addition, roving staff equipped with real-time communication devices can serve as mobile experts, harnessing the full range of research and wayfinding tools on demand, wherever they may be in the building.

in the Digital Age

Support Library Staff

A dedicated staff of professionals helps the library function smoothly and successfully around the clock. These staff members are the lifeblood of the operation. Their work patterns and daily routines are pivotal to keeping the library community running smoothly.

The way staff members are arranged in the library is largely dependent on the library’s chosen service model. Service-oriented staff who engage patrons and provide guidance and feedback are typically co-located amongst user spaces. Library specialists – dedicated to collection management, acquisitions, technical services, and administration – are located behind the scenes and clustered around break rooms, conference rooms, and focus areas that provide a range of support spaces aiding in daily tasks.

Case Studies

New City Library Renovation + Addition

Shenandoah Public Library

Riverdale Branch Public Library Study

George Mason Regional Library

City Library Renovation + Addition

A New Vision for Modern Libraries

VMDO’s masterplan for a flagship public library in Rockland County, New York crafts a new vision for what a modern library experience can offer to a diverse and expanding user group.

While honoring the building’s historic role as a repository of information and resources, the improvements to the New City Library aspire to transform this much-loved community asset into a nourishing and inspiring home for the young and old alike.

The masterplan projects renovating 40,000 square feet and constructing 8,000 square feet to update the 1980 building on North Main Street.

New outdoor spaces promote connections beyond the confines of the library and invite users to engage with the historic North Main Street site.

Honoring the Community

The New City Library, founded in 1936, moved to its current home on North Main Street in 1980 and has since undergone a series of additions and renovations as the community has grown. Our team has worked closely with local residents, library staff, a board of directors, and a variety of interest groups to identify ways the current facility can be improved to serve a diverse population of users with a variety of unique needs, from local children and students to adults and a growing community of seniors.

New City has benefited from a historically rich assemblage of cultures and has prioritized designing a new public gathering place that honors the diversity of its constituents. VMDO, with Envirospace as a valuable local resource, has developed a strong familiarity with the rich history of Rockland County’s incredible towns, hamlets and landscapes, and has created a plan for the library that honors the uniqueness of its lower Hudson Valley location.

Main Level Plan

A reinvigorated adult library that makes the most of the existing spaces.

- Open forum seat steps

- Perch seats looking out from mezzanine.

- All new specialty rooms: group study, makerspace, history, and teen room.

New Integrated Service Point gives patrons a central location to seek help and staff a clear view throughout the library.

A streamlined, fresh, and dynamic Main Street space. Flexible use by library and community groups. Direct and clear access to large meeting rooms.

A streamlined, Flexible Direct a clear view throughout

The Park: an expanded, flexible outdoor space for all library users.

Exterior materials and detailing tie the addition in with the existing building. Complementary brick as primary cladding. matching glazing frame finish and head/sill elevations. Refined, minimal detailing that emphasizes larger forms and surfaces.

Main level floor plan.

Programming Strategy

VMDO’s masterplan process culminated in a building strategy that will allow for phased construction of enhancements that will permit the library to maintain functionality throughout the duration of the proposed construction schedule. In addition to improving outdated support spaces like restrooms, meeting rooms, and staff spaces, the proposed design carves new public spaces out of old, single-purpose book storage areas and introduces an array of much-needed rooms that support a wide range of public uses, from individual study and quiet reading to collaborative group work and hands-on crafting and construction space. Two new, state-of-the-art meeting rooms will provide the square footage necessary to host an assortment of medium to large public events, from speaker series and film screenings to book signings and municipal meetings. New outdoor courtyards promote connections beyond the confines of the library and invite users to engage with the historic North Main Street site.

Renovation + Addition

Engaged community planning.

The residents of Shenandoah County have long anticipated an update to their County Library building. Located in the historic town of Edinburg, the current one-story facility, built in 2000, no longer meets the needs of the community. The building systems and infrastructure are outdated, the layout does not support the staff’s operational needs, and the facility lacks the adequate space to support the functions desired by the County and community. VMDO is working with Shenandoah County to implement a redesign project that will enable the Library System to better serve its patrons through expanded programming offerings, updated technologies, flexible learning spaces, and additional multi-use spaces.

This project will involve a comprehensive redesign of the library site, a complete renovation of the existing 12,000 square foot library building, and a 12,000 square foot addition. The unifying project goal is to build a welcoming, flexible, and functional modern library facility that supports the diverse range of the community’s needs and aspirations.

Since working with Shenandoah County, VMDO and local stakeholders have identified that the two adjacent parcels that comprise the site will be unified with infrastructure upgrades and site improvements to include expanded parking, outdoor reading gardens, and other outdoor gathering spaces. The building will be designed with visual connections to the outdoor spaces and openings that encourage activities to spill out whenever possible. Library functions and staff spaces will be moved from an existing house on the site and consolidated in the expanded building to streamline operations.

Thus far, VMDO has conducted extensive public engagement to test the assumptions of previous planning efforts and to better understand the needs and desires of local stakeholders and Library patrons. Site design – such as analyzing topography, vegetation, amenities, utilities, and infrastructure – has begun, and VMDO looks forward to working with the Library team to build a welcoming, flexible, and functional modern library facility that supports the diverse range of the community’s needs and aspirations.

Together with this key stakeholder group, we co-created a bold new vision for a civic amenity. The future County Library is:

• A destination in Shenandoah County. A place with inspiring spaces that live up to and expand the well-loved services offered there.

• A place for community gathering. An inviting space that serves residents and visitors from diverse backgrounds

• A space that embodies the character of the place and celebrates its natural beauty.

• A space designed with flexibility and the future in mind.

Following the engagement sessions and a comprehensive space analysis, we developed a new program to meet the current and future needs of the community. The program includes a diverse offering of small and large meeting rooms, discrete areas for children, teens and adults, and dedicated space for a special collection of regional history materials. These spaces are anchored by a community living room near the front entrance – a shared gathering space that will invite visitors to linger and encourage positive social interactions among friends and strangers alike. Staff areas are centrally located in this program to address the current operational challenges presented by the existing layout. The proposed building design that evolved from this program will introduce greater variety to the scale and character of the spaces inside. The existing building is characterized by a consistent ceiling height, lighting, and material palette. In contrast, the future library will offer a combination of complementary spaces – larger, open spaces scaled to support civic functions, and more intimate, enclosed spaces that allow individuals and small groups to withdraw for private or focused tasks.

Outdoor Learning Garden

Site Planning

Equally important to the success of this project is the library site design. It was clear from the early stages of our engagement with the Shenandoah County Library that redeveloping the site would be key to enhancing the user experience. The library is situated on a prominent hillside adjacent the primary artery that connects Edinburg with the interstate highway, making it easily accessible to local patrons and people traveling through the area. The building’s visibility gives it a civic presence that can be felt by visitors approaching from the east and west on Stoney Creek Boulevard. The potential inherent to the site’s location and size make the site and building design equally important to the success of this project.

Our team responded to this opportunity with a new building design that will be well integrated with outdoor spaces. When the planned site improvements are complete, visitors will be invited to explore a landscaped trail through a native meadow habitat and discover outdoor rooms including an event lawn and reading garden, a scenic overlook, and a stargazing hillside. The new library design will provide some combination of covered porches, shaded terraces, and semi-enclosed courtyard spaces. It will also offer more visual connections and openings from the public interior spaces to these outdoor areas, encouraging activities to spill outside whenever possible.

VMDO and Shenandoah County have co-created an inspiring vision of the future of the County Library. We have reimagined this vital civic amenity as a community gathering space anchored by a living room and situated in a learning garden. Our collaboration is evidence of the power engaging in authentic dialogue and partnership with the people who use our buildings and have ultimate responsibility for stewarding the places we create. With this strong foundation as our basis of design, we are excited for the next steps in this project and the future of the Shenandoah County Library.

Riverdale Library is a small, suburban branch library 10.5 miles northeast of downtown Fort Myers, Florida. It occupies a 7,000 square foot storefront building in a non-descript strip mall surrounded by single family housing and a large high school. Working with a group of librarians, VMDO embarked upon a feasibility study that analyzed a range of potential design solutions that focused on making efficient use of a limited amount of space. Collection size and storage, meeting and study space, improved staff accommodations and enhanced curb appeal all factored into the development of four strategies that range in cost, operational impact, and balance between user space and capacity to house resources.

The building program included facilities co-located with the library, administrative and office spaces and multi-purpose community spaces, in addition to parking and a multiuse landscape that also occupies the site. The team applied their expertise in community engagement, energy analysis, stainability, and site and landscape design to the feasibility study for this 7,000 square foot renovation and addition project.

RIVERDALE BRANCH LIBRARY

FEASIBILITY STUDY SKETCH OPTION 1

FEASIBILITY STUDY SKETCH OPTION 2

FEASIBILITY STUDY SKETCH OPTION 3

FEASIBILITY STUDY SKETCH OPTION 4

Design Options

We developed the following overview of challenges and opportunities for the library. Each of the four resulting design options was synthesized into a schematic proposal for an entirely new approach to the configuration of the library’s main floor. Riverdale Branch Library will refer to these options during future planning discussions about the future of their library.

Design Challenges

-Growing suburban community 10.5 miles from downtown Fort Meyers, FL

- Size of collection is limiting usefulness of library

- Current interior compromises openness and wayfinding

- Separate circulation and reference desks cause staffing complications and user confusion

- Few meeting/study space options

Design Option 1

- Streamlined, integrated service point

- More rational layout of shelving and reading spaces

- Expanded meeting room

- Addition of a group study room

- Seating clusters along well-lit north elevation

Design Option 2

- Multiple projecting bays along north elevation provides muchneeded user space

- Collection organized into discreet adult, teen, and children’s areas

- New help desk and lower shelving units allow for uninterrupted views across space (enhanced visibility)

- Enhanced buffer between patron restrooms and library spaces

Design Option 3

- Relocated entry vestibule and adjacent garden courtyard

- Re-oriented meeting room with courtyard access via overhead garage doors

- Children’s reading zone nearest help desk supervision

- New flexible group meeting room

Design Option 4

- Radical reimagination of library exterior

- Entry and informal user spaces in new, organically shaped commons

- Discreet teen and children’s spaces permit acoustic separation while allowing for visibility

- Meeting room accessible from within library and from vestibule, extending hours of operation and flexibility for community uses

George Mason Regional Library Feasibility Study

Changing community needs and expectations are reshaping the role of the George Mason Regional Library in Fairfax County, Virginia. Working with library staff, our team has developed a program and proposed multiple alternative design solutions for modernizing the facility. The proposed work involves a comprehensive renovation of the interior spaces and a strategic expansion to include new and expanded program areas developed during the study.

Our collaboration began with site visits to gather information and document the existing building. With this initial research in hand, VMDO engaged with the library staff to learn more about the library’s building and its community. Through a series of interviews and surveys, we learned about the staff – who they are, how they work, and how they serve their community through the library. We asked questions to uncover insights about how the facility does and does not support them, and what the building needs to better serve its constituents, now and in the future. Our conversations ranged from the history and culture of Fairfax County to the people that use the library, to how the staff operate on a day-to-day basis, to how changing needs and expectations are reshaping the role of the library in the community.

the George Mason Regional Library, this process resulted in a proposal for an expanded library program. Working with the library staff, we identified the need for a new performance space and outdoor spaces to host a range of meetings, events, and celebrations in support of community arts, recreation, and education. There is also demand for a variety of learning, study, and lounge spaces to welcome and accommodate the diversity in the library’s user group. This includes reading rooms for children and teens, individual and group study rooms, a media lab / maker space, a kitchenette, and a communal area with study tables and lounge seating. The program also proposes reducing the square footage dedicated to collections and book storage to make space for the new public areas, and reallocating space from the circulation desk to modernize the concierge service area.

After developing an initial program for the new library, VMDO and Fairfax County embarked on a six-month collaborative effort to develop multiple potential design solutions. Our team designed a series of interactive workshops, meetings, and one-on-one interviews to engage members of the library administration in the design process. This collaboration yielded a feasibility study that provides Fairfax County with a menu of options to consider as they plan a way forward.

Design Factors

Each option proposes strategies for renovating and expanding the facility to accommodate the library program within the constraints of the site, schedule, and budget. The principal drivers behind the development of each option included the programming requirements and important design factors like providing access to daylight, views, fresh air, and outdoor spaces, improving visibility and wayfinding throughout the building, promoting the identity of the new library through architectural and landscape design, and creating a pathway to Net Zero by incorporating a geothermal system to generate renewable energy on-site.

• New addition occupies minimal footprint.

• Three distinct public meeting spaces accessible from beyond secure library perimeter.

• New performance space and maker space share access to new outdoor patio.

• Existing vehicular entrances are maintained, and landscape islands are provided between parking stalls.

• Addition creates a new library façade on the main (north) public entry side of the building.

• New shared lobby for the library and new performance and maker spaces.

• High-impact programs gain visibility through expansive glazing on new front façade.

• All public programming visible from information desk.

• Meeting room and children’s room share access to new outdoor terrace.

• Increased parking efficiency creates more open space at northeast corner of site.

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Princeton University Library

Finding architecture dissertations & theses: home, theses & dissertations @ princeton and elsewhere.

Princeton Specific

Dissertations & Theses : Covers scholarship from most U.S. universities with some international coverage. Full text coverage begins with 1997+ but indexing includes scholarship dating back to 1861. To search PU Dissertations, follow this link   to a subset of the Proquest Dissertations. 

SoA Design Theses: The School of Architecture maintains an archive of student theses from 1930s through the present. To search the index of projects or access the collection, contact the Visual Resources Curator . This collection includes both graduate and undergraduate projects. 

Princeton Senior Theses Database : A search catalog of senior theses written from 1929 through the present. Approximately 60 000 records are included but not all departments are represented (SoA is). Searchable by author, advisor, department, or year. The Mudd Manuscript Library collects and maintains the primary copies.

SoA Library Senior Thesis Collection :  The School of Architecture Library has a small subset of SoA senioir theses.  These essays can be found in the library Main Catalog by an author search or by a call number browse search for "Sen. Th." Many of these theses have not been formatted for primary copy but rather include color images, fold-outs, dust jackets, etc. This small collection does not circulate. 

Architecture Theses & Dissertations Beyond Princeton

Harvard's Graduate School of Design : A guide for finding masters theses and doctoral dissertations specific to the GSD. 

MIT Architecture Dissertations & Theses : A basic list organized by author of the thesis or dissertation. Each entry includes the title of the work, brief "where are they now" info, and links to the works in MIT's Barton catalog.

UC-Berkeley's Guide to Architecture & Environmental Design Theses and Dissertations: Explains how you can find these works in the UCB system.

Architecture Association's School of Architecture Theses: Theses can be searched via the online catalogue by selecting the 'AA Theses' menu option from the upper left-hand drop-down menu.

Georgia Tech College of Architecture Theses & Dissertations Database

UMass-Amherst's Architecture Masters Theses Collection

Illinois Institute of Technology's College of Architecture Thesis Collection

UIUC's Depts. of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning Checklist: l inks to pages with basic details about theses, projects, and dissertations from the Departments of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning up to 2006 (update pending). THis link will take you to the dedicated Landscape Architecture Thesis Database .

Institutional Repositories or Scholarly Commons - freely accessible research archived and disseminated

eCommons@Cornell : The OPEN collection is available to the general public, including the full text. The CLOSED collection is not available outside Cornell and only the citation and abstract are available at Cornell.

Scholarly Commons - Univ. of Pennsylvania : Browse and in some cases access the full text to theses and dissertations from Penn programs and professional schools.

Other Resources

ADT (Australiasian Digital Theses Program) : This search portal provides searching, browsing, and access to theses and dissertations produced in Australia.

Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertacoes : A search tool for accessing theses and dissertations produced in Brazilian universities.

Cybertesis : Sponsored by UNESCO and Fonds Francophone des Inforoutes, Cybertesis is a project between the Université de Montréal, the Université de Lyon2, the University of Chile and 32 universities of Europe, Africa and Latin America . Simultaneous searches through a single Web interface may retrieve more than 50.000 full text theses stored in 27 different servers and university repositories, by means of the use of OAI protocol (Open Archives Initiative) as a service provider (metadata harvesting).

DART-Europe E-theses Portal : A discovery service for open access research theses awarded by European universities.

DiVA : This portal provides access to dissertations, theses, and research publications written at 26 institutions in Scandinavia.

EThOS : Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) offers free access, in a secure format, to the full text of electronically stored UK theses--a rich and vast body of knowledge.

Foreign Doctoral Dissertations Database : The Center for Research Libraries has more than 800,000 cataloged foreign doctoral dissertations representing more than 90 countries and over 1200 institutions.

Index to Theses: A comprehensive listing of theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland since 1716. 589,028 theses in collection (355,862 of which have abstracts)

NARCIS: This search portal provides access to theses and dissertations produced in the Netherlands, as well as access to a variety of other research and data sets.

National ETD Portal (South Africa): This search portal provides access to dissertations and theses produced in South Africa.

RCAAP - Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal: The RCAAP 's mission is to promote, support and facilitate the adoption of the open access movement in Portugal. RCAAP The project aims to: increase the visibility , accessibility and dissemination of academic activity and Portuguese scientific research , facilitating the management and access to information about scientific production and integrate Portugal into a set of international initiatives.  This portal offers a  union catalog with digital contents from more than 30 institutions.

Theses Canada : A union catalog of Canadian theses and dissertations, in both electronic and analog formats, is available through the search interface on this portal.

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Explore Design Study

The design approaches to Re-Envisioning Branch Libraries

New York City’s 207 branch libraries are serving more New Yorkers in more ways than ever before. They provide essential opportunities for New Yorkers to develop the literacy, language, and technological skills needed to thrive in today’s economy. From 2002 to 2011, circulation at the city’s three library systems increased by 59% and program attendance increased by 40%. Despite a city funding decrease of 8% over the same period, branch libraries hosted nearly 36 million visitors, circulated 61 million materials, and enrolled over 2.4 million people in their public programs.

Despite this incredible growth in users and uses, the city’s library systems are struggling to just keep branches in a state of good repair, much less to meet the space and technology needs of today’s users. In order to encourage policymakers, business leaders, and librarians to think strategically about how to support and improve library services in New York, The Architectural League is collaborating with the Center for an Urban Future on Re-envisioning Branch Libraries , a design study that articulates new architectural, financial, and programmatic possibilities for New York City’s branch libraries. Generously sponsored by the Charles H. Revson Foundation, the design study is a complement to CUF’s ongoing research   into the importance of public libraries to the social, economic, and educational fabric of the city.

This summer, five interdisciplinary design teams were chosen to articulate new design possibilities for these vital neighborhood resources. In a public design showcase and policy symposium on December 4th, the five design teams presented their strategies for re-envisioning New York City’s branch libraries. The design ideas address three key themes: integrating libraries into the city’s housing and community development goals, reconfiguring libraries to meet community needs, and developing new ideas for expanding the impact of branch libraries.

A brief overview of each team’s design approach and solutions as well as an image slideshow are below. Video of the December 4th presentations and panel discussions, robust representation of each team’s design proposals, and more content will be released in the coming months. An additional design presentation will be held on January 12, 2015, with details to be announced shortly.

Concept sketch by Andrew Berman Architect

Andrew Berman Architect, Library Development Solutions, Neil Donnelly, AEA Consulting, Auerbach Pollock Friedlander Read a full description of Andrew Berman Architect’s proposal here .

With significant experience in the design, planning, and management of libraries and cultural institutions, this team has focused on strategies that take advantage of underutilized spaces within or adjacent to libraries. They show how community rooms can become more effective platforms for outside partnerships with nearby organizations, if they could be accessed and used even after the library closes. They propose vestibules at the library entrance that contain key services (for example: plugs, information kiosks, a book deposit) and that can be accessed 24 hours a day, much like an ATM room at the front of many banks. This team also looks at ways that library facades and their external grounds could become places for people to sit and hang out — perhaps even plug in a laptop. By identifying spatial opportunities in a diverse set of branch locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx, the team’s work demonstrates possibilities for capturing open space surrounding libraries, activating and inhabiting library façades, and maximizing each branch’s ability to serve as a community anchor, both during regular library hours and around the clock.

Andrew Berman , architect and principal of Andrew Berman Architect; Leslie Burger , director of Princeton Public Library and founder of Library Development Solutions; Neil Donnelly , graphic designer; Adrian Ellis , Elizabeth Ellis , and Daniel Payne , cultural consultants at AEA Consulting; and Steven Friedlander , theater consultant, partner of Auerbach Pollock Friedlander.

Outpost library concept sketch by L+

L+ Read a full description of L+’s proposal here .

Led by SITU Studio, an innovative practice that combines design, research, and fabrication, L+ brings to the design study a broad range of professionals with expertise in real estate development, in urban policy, and in branch libraries themselves. The team has investigated two distinct but overlapping challenges. The first is how to enable a library’s community room to register as an accessible and useful neighborhood asset. The second is how to develop a new service model in New York City: “retail” outposts that serve as extensions of the library system, testing out specific programs and services in new locations. The kit-of-parts strategy that L+ has applied to both challenges suggests — through bold graphics and structures that are both custom-fabricated and customizable — a flexible, tactical approach to enhancing library services within existing branches and to locating additional services in new sites throughout the city. In light of increased demand at libraries for a broad range of educational and community programming, including everything from intensive literacy and technology classes to cooking workshops and cultural celebrations, L+ has created a series of highly flexible and affordable solutions that can be implemented in a range of contexts, including community rooms in existing branches, retail spaces, and transit hubs.

Basar Girit , Jen Komorowski , Aleksey Lukyanov-Cherny , Westley Rozen , Katie Shima , and Bradley Samuels , architects at SITU Studio; Jessica Blaustein , designer, researcher, and director of The New School’s Urban Media Lab in the School of Media Studies; Glen Cummings , graphic designer and partner at MTWTF; Jesse Keenan , research director for the Center for Urban Real Estate and professor of real estate development at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University; Rachel Meltzer , researcher and assistant professor of urban policy at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at The New School; and Christian Zabriskie and Lauren Comito , founders of Urban Librarians Unite.

Library Branches: FY2013 Visitors & Local Population by Leah Meisterlin

Marble Fairbanks with James Lima Planning + Development, Leah Meisterlin, and Special Project Office Read a full description of Marble Fairbanks’ proposal here .

The starting point for this team is a demographically informed, data-based approach to understanding libraries as a component of a citywide network of public services. Complementing this analysis is a powerful planning tool that overlays library locations with a wide variety of different community characteristics, including population growth, density, diversity and age as well as information about flood zones and future development potential. This planning tool will help library and city officials readily see how library investments can serve a number of different policy priorities. For example, the team found 75 library branches in New York City flood zones and 74 other branches within a half-mile of them. With the right resources and investments, these branches could play a critical role in the city’s storm preparedness plans. These two distinct perspectives on how libraries fit into a broader policy framework set the stage for a design proposition that explores a range of architectural and financial models for integrating libraries into new mixed-use housing development, including density bonuses for library sites. Focusing on the Brighton Beach branch, they have developed an architecturally striking new mixed-use building with extensive ground floor retail, a grand new library on the first and second floors, and extensive housing, including both affordable and market rate units.

Karen Fairbanks , Scott Marble , and Jason Roberts , architects at Marble Fairbanks; James Lima , urban planner, real estate developer, and president of James Lima Planning + Development; Leah Meisterlin , urbanist, architect, planner, and educator at Barnard College, Columbia University; and Richard Tyson , design consultant and founding principal of Special Project Office.

Conceptual drawing by MASS Design Group

MASS Design Group Read a full description of MASS’ proposal here .

This team immersed itself in the life and rhythms of a cluster of branch libraries in southern Brooklyn to identify what makes these places special in their community. Their deep observation found libraries to be indicators and instruments of community health and social cohesion. An investigative, qualitative analysis the characteristics of library users and the surrounding community, the personalities of the staff, and the limitations and potential of the physical building informed a design process that responds to the specific areas of excellence of each branch. For example, they created additional flexible space for the Sheepshead Bay branch to put on more cultural events, including performances and banquets; and redesigned the second floor of the Coney Island branch so that it could concentrate on food and health services, including educational programming and direct services such as flu shots. The team’s proposals optimize interior library spaces for particular program strengths while enhancing the libraries’ ability to provide the fullest range of services.

Michael Murphy , architect and executive director of MASS Design Group; Michael Haggerty , urban planner and community service fellow at MASS Design Group; James Martin , architect and associate at MASS Design Group; Chitra Aiyar , attorney and executive director of Sadie Nash Leadership Project.

MyPL concept sketch by UNION

UNION Read a full description of UNION’s proposal here .

UNION is an interdisciplinary team, convened specifically for this design study, with diverse expertise in architecture, library science, technology, graphic design, writing, and filmmaking. With an interest in narrative and in identifying the essential qualities that make a library feel like a library to its users, the team has taken on the challenge of making branch libraries more visible as civic institutions within their communities and the city as a whole. UNION’s approach includes a suite of strategies that bring into view normally hidden aspects of library system operations and leverage urgent state of good repair needs as a means to invest in facilitating users’ ability to discover the resources and services branch libraries offer. They propose a more effective identity system (including a clearer library icon and signage), a library card that can unlock services far beyond libraries, a marketing campaign that draws on the libraries’ fleet of delivery trucks, and architectural strategies that leverage needed investments in roof and facade repairs to create more distinctive, open and flexible facilities.

Annie Barrett , architect and principal of Annie Barrett Studio; Adriel Mesznik , principal of Adriel Mesznik Architecture; Ann Whiteside , Harvard Graduate School of Design librarian and assistant dean for information resources; Bryan Boyer , designer and principal of Dash Marshall; Ceren Bingol , senior architect at OMA; Helen Han , architect and filmmaker; Jane Lea , project architect at Architecture Research Office; Landon Brown , designer, researcher, and director of VisionArc; Ryan Thacker , graphic designer at Might Could; Sapna Advani , urban design and planning director at Grain Collective; and Scott Geiger , writer and critic.

Re-Envisioning Branch Libraries

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public library architecture: Architectural Impact of Public Library on Users’ Mental Health

2015, JK Welfare & Pharmascope Foundation | International Journal of Review in Life Sciences, International Journal of Review in LifeSciences(IJRLS)

ABSTRACT This paper examines the architectural effect of Public libraries’ areas on users’ mental health. This study also in- troduces appropriate criteria and patterns, to recognize environmental stimuli in life space and their effects on human beings and to identify and evaluate environmental indexes. Present research study was conducted in all depended public libraries in Tehran (Capital city) of Public Libraries’ institution of Iran. A 41-item checklist is de- signed by the research, which provides standards, criteria and patterns for indoor and outdoor space of public libraries. This study carried out via descriptive-survey method and two types of quaternaries were used as as- sessment tools including General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and researcher-made questionnaire based on archi- tectural theories. The results show that dependent variable (architectural space of public libraries) is effective on independent variable (users’ mental health). This study confirms that a significant relationship exists between ar- chitectural elements of public libraries and users’ mental health. Keywords Public Library; Architectural Spaces; Mental Health; Environmental Psychology.

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Parks and urban green spaces, have always been a places to spend hours away from the bustling life and its numerous problems. In the meantime, elderly people also have the same share of uses from such spaces as other people. Elderly including social groups that due to their age and decreasingly activities, have very leisure time And the possibility of their use of the urban park for voluntary and community activity is more than other society's members. In this regard, This paper has been developed aims to improve the environmental quality of such spaces for the presence ability of vulnerable elderly population And therefore by Collecting the indicators and criteria of elderly's presence ability at Laleh park of Tehran city, that have been one of the oldest parks in the 6th district of Tehran with the highest elderly populations, were studied And then the quality of park was assessed. The Research method is descriptive analytical and gauging. And resulting of interviews with 384 elderly people over 60 years who were present in the park. Data were collected by using questionnaires and analysis was performed by using statistical software. It has been confirmed that According to (p_value <0/05), there is a significant relationship between different levels of proposed model and dependent variable

Financial Research Journal , Arezou Kotnaei

Resumen: Hoy en día, es necesario utilizar bibliotecas sin libros debido a la adición creciente de nuevos artículos y documentos científicos a fuentes anteriores y otros problemas relacionados. Por lo tanto, el presente estudio tuvo como objetivo proporcionar un modelo para la introducción de los índices de arquitectura interior en el diseño de tales bibliotecas para las facultades de arte y arquitectura a través de un estudio de caso, es decir, la biblioteca de la Facultad de Artes y Arquitectura, Universidad Islámica Azad, Sur Rama de Teherán El estudio es un estudio cuantitativo en términos de su naturaleza, sujeto y objetivos con un enfoque positivista. La población de estudio incluyó a los estudiantes de la facultad. El método de muestreo es muestreo aleatorio estratificado. El estudio se realizó en ocho pasos. En el primer paso, las fuentes de la biblioteca se usaron para recopilar los datos, incluidos libros y artículos científicos confiables. El segundo paso incluyó fuentes de Internet tales como revistas científicas líderes para identificar los índices de diseño científico para bibliotecas sin libros. En el tercer paso, se seleccionaron 39 índices para desarrollar un cuestionario. En el cuarto paso, la validez y confiabilidad del cuestionario se midieron a través de la validez del contenido usando la opinión del profesor supervisor y el alfa de Cronbach, respectivamente. En el quinto paso, los cuestionarios se distribuyeron entre los estudiantes para buscar sus comentarios sobre la aceptación o no aceptación de cada índice. En el sexto paso, los datos obtenidos de los cuestionarios recolectados se dividieron en tres grupos: psicología ambiental, arquitectura interior, y equipo y mobiliario digital. Los datos fueron analizados usando SPSS. En el séptimo paso, las hipótesis del estudio se analizaron mediante la prueba de Kolmogorov-Smirnov, la prueba t de 1 muestra y la prueba t independiente. En el octavo paso, los resultados finales se obtuvieron para priorizar los índices de diseño de interiores. Según los resultados, los índices con una media superior a 4 tienen el valor más alto y se reconocieron como los índices de diseño más importantes en la categoría principal, y los índices con un valor mayor a 3.5 se introdujeron como los segundos índices más importantes. Finalmente, se podría concluir que los índices mencionados proporcionan un espacio apropiado para los estudiantes en la forma de una biblioteca sin libros.

portal.usb.ac.ir

Asghar Zare chahouki

Socio-spatial studies journal

Regarding the increasing presence of women in the community as a result of higher education developments, urban spaces have become more feminine and the significant influence of women in urban spaces and landscape is rapidly increasing following the impacts of lifestyle phenomenon, media and globalization. The increasing influence of women on urban spaces and landscapes intensifies the necessity of deep scrutiny. Recently, security is being considered as an important issue for women and women tend to be present at urban spaces more; however, all different types of space are not considered secured enough for women. The absence of women architects and urbanists in the professional community despite the large population of women graduate from Iranian universities accentuates the problem. This research seeks to understand whether urban spaces and landscapes can be regarded as feminine spaces. This paper a review research and the literature and the research problem are described by emphasis on library documentation research method.

1st International Academic Conference on Civil Engineering, Rome, Italy

Mahsan Ostadnia

Urban spaces are the place of social life of the community, based on rational thinking values, civic participation of the community and social behavior based on human values. Urban spaces are the context of the formation and strengthening of social communication in order to establish a sense of security and trust in the public space, on the other hand, public places are important for the formation of ritual events, which help to establish social interaction in these spaces. Space and behavior, due to factors affecting each other, they affect the presence of individuals and the occurrence of social activities. Urban design can be done in a way to occur easy communication and greater trust between acquaintances and strangers. Urban spaces have an important role to create a happy city. These spaces can provide different variety of opportunities for citizens to experience joy and happiness. There is a close relationship between personal happiness, social happiness, and a happy city. Considering the importance and emphasis on social interaction in happy urban spaces, this paper seeks to achieve the qualitative criteria, which can influence on promotion of social interaction in happy urban spaces. Regarding to the subject of this study, descriptive-analytic research method has been used for this article. This research recognizes the relationship between happy urban spaces and social interaction, it is based on a theoretical framework that will be useful for measuring the indicators of a happy city to promote social interaction in urban spaces.

Bagh-e Nazar

Bagh-e Nazar Journal

In landscape architecture, the concept of landscape has always been linked to two facets namely objectivity and subjectivity, and it has shown an inseparable bond between human and the environment. The tight-knit and intertwined relationship of the qualitative and quantitative issues makes it difficult to understand and, consequently, to evaluate the landscape concept. During the history of landscape, and especially in recent years, many efforts have been made to assess the landscape and its various aspects. Most research has attempted to separate objective aspects from the subjective ones and numerically evaluate each one separately in a landscape assessment. Previous studies have evaluated the physique of environment , and human perceptions of the environment, some strands of studies have assessed the landscape assessed from the environmental aspect and investigated it ecologically , Some researchers have considered it objectively regardless of humans and their minds while , some have s viewed it as merely subjective issue . To assess the concept of landscape, it is necessary to simultaneously evaluate the objective and subjective process and discover the relations between them. Therefore, this research is an attempt to collect and organize library documents, including different methods of landscape evaluation in various objective and subjective fields, and to analyze them deductively and, and to study the existing methods, and suggest a model for landscape assessment.

reza ghanbari seyedkolaei

Construction of administrative parks aiming at alleviating the traffic, fuel consumption, and saving time, etc., is of great importance in the world, so that with the increasing growth of population and development of urbanization, it has set the stage for numerous studies to enhance the efficiency of such sites through recognizing the issues and problems of clients and their satisfaction. This article is formulated taking a descriptive-analytic approach, and aiming at measuring the satisfaction of citizens with the performance of administrative park in Gorgan. The populations of this project were the citizens who referred to this park to do their administrative affairs, of whom 384 cases were chosen through Cochran and randomly using questionnaire. The information was gathered under SPSS and statistical test and the results indicated that Gorgan citizens did not find the construction of this park appropriate for their life trend, so that the abundance of answers for lower than average were 235 (65%), and abundance of answers for influence higher than average were 129 or 35 percent. Considering the level of significance lower than 0.05, the difference between the abundance of both groups of answers at the level of 99% were significant. Hence, the hypothesis zero “the construction of administrative park in Gorgan influenced positively on life enhancement” is rejected, and the opposite one (researcher’s assumption) is admitted.

Farzane Gohari

— as a basic concept, sustainability is a holistic theory for all the living affairs including economy, community, and environment that provided the basis of the sustainable design. Sustainability is an interdisciplinary concept which entangled with considerable efforts of many specialists, movements, and specialized disciplines. Therefore, as one of the most significant human settlements in modern metropolitans such as Mashhad city some majors including architecture, urban design, and urban development have pivotal role in providing appropriate setting and high quality and quantity standards for the residents of housing complexes. In line with the principles of sustainable development, the current study seeks to introduce and analyze the affective factors of residents' satisfaction in housing complexes. As descriptive-analytic and position paper and by evaluating the main theoretical models presented by local and foreign scholars for realizing the most effective factors in housing complexes, the present article was performed an analysis for the relationship of residents' satisfaction with the concept of sustainability. Finally, the effective factors of this area were suggested in an analytic-theoretical framework. The obtained results indicate that the effective residents' satisfaction factors in housing complexes of this common area can be classified into three dimensions, namely structural, environmental, and sociocultural. Suitable arrangement of blocks, occupancy level, proper density, scale, and human proportions from spatial-structural aspect, absence of various pollutants, existence of suitable nature and green space from ecological aspect, and finally family and neighborhood relationship, amount of participation in social activities, and management satisfaction from sociocultural aspect are considered as effective factors of this area.With regard to the increase of level of residents' satisfaction in housing complexes, we hope that this article could help the designers recreate a sustainable setting.

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How Public Libraries Are Building Community

The public library’s mission has changed from a simple repository to a community center, where learning experiences, cultural resources, creative making, and community interaction take place..

Around the country, communities are losing the public places where they meet and interact with each other — those spaces where we have planned and unplanned encounters with people, bump into neighbors, have a conversation, exchange ideas, talk about the local news, and even gossip. One example of this is the thousands of U.S. post offices that have been closed in recent years, most in small, rural communities where the post office often functioned as a de facto type of community center.

In addition, communities have also been losing their reliable local news and information sources at an alarming rate. Since 2005, the country has lost nearly a third of its newspapers . In many regions of the country there is no local news coverage at all. A lack of professional local news affects a decline in civic engagement and discourse and provides opportunities for government corruption and political polarization to flourish, eroding the public trust in our institutions and each other.

In these regards, our public libraries are an essential community resource . Now that information has become exponentially available, the public library’s mission has changed from a simple repository to a place where experts (librarians) can help winnow the flood of information and disinformation and help curate it into knowledge . And our libraries are becoming more of a place that functions as a community center, where a greater variety of learning experiences, cultural resources, creative making, and community interaction take place.

Some of the earliest public libraries were rooms within the ancient Roman thermae (large-scale bath houses). Beyond bathing facilities, the thermae were known to house places to buy and eat food, listen to poetry readings, socialize, and access written historical and cultural works. These thermae/public libraries of Rome acted as community centers filled with public amenities that attracted the populace to learn and interact with each other and in turn, strengthen their societal bonds.

Now, the idea of public library as community center has re-evolved. We are designing a wide variety of amenities into our libraries and creating them to handle a diversity of functions. We also strive to understand the uniqueness of each community and the need to curate library designs that are made-to-measure for the needs of each individual community. From equal access to the digital world and other learning opportunities, to places for creative making and well-being, to places of engagement and interaction, our latest library buildings are playing a larger role in our civic, cultural, and social lives than ever before.

Library as Place to Create

Libraries are providing access to an array of technical and non-technical tools to learn to make things. From 3D printers to soldering irons and sewing machines, from podcasting booths to movie and music editing spaces, libraries are places for exploration and do-it-yourself learning in an environment that also provides access to each other’s skills and knowledge. More than 88% of all public libraries offer formal or informal digital literacy programming and more than one in five libraries provide classes or informal help related to computer programing, robotics, and 3D printing.

Library as Classroom

In a time when education is increasingly expensive, public libraries provide information and educational opportunities free for all people, regardless of their socioeconomic status. People can learn a variety of new skills. There are creative writing workshops and art history classes, demonstration kitchens for cooking classes, immigrants can attend English as a Second language (ESL) classes , and other historically marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ+ community and patrons with disabilities can access information and resources for support.

Library as Digital Commons

Beyond access to a public computer terminal, libraries now need to offer all things digital. In addition to checking out books, DVDs and music, libraries are also offering e-books, hotspots, laptops, and tablets for patron off-site use. Libraries are also offering 24/7 Internet access by leaving on or extending their Wi-Fi signal so that visitors can log on to the web in and outside of buildings. And while there is no substitute for in-person communal interaction, many libraries are streaming public programs (e.g. story times and author events) to reach as many members of the community as possible and creating an equitable platform for all.

Library as Place for Well-being

Libraries are accessed by a wide range of a people within a community and are designed to be comfortable spaces where one feels welcome and safe. Combined with the relaxing inclination to simply browse and explore, the library is a natural place to promote mental well-being. Access to natural light and physical connections to the outdoors with gardens and outdoor reading rooms provide calming respites from daily life. Cafes and coffee shops integrated into public library spaces further enhance the library experience. Designers are creating library spaces that are cognizant of the needs of the neurodivergent and others in need, and library staff are increasingly being trained to provide information and access to resources for patrons physical and mental health.

Library as Coworking Center

There are paid coworking spaces across the country, but the one that’s always been free is the library. Beyond spaces to get work done, reservable meeting rooms and access to scanners and copiers, libraries are increasingly adding staff for library spaces that specialize in helping small business. It’s not just about pointing people with business questions to the “how to start a business” stacks, says Morgan Perry of the Mid-Continent Public Library system in Kansas City, Missouri, “People seeking help with their business can sit down for one-on-one sessions with a business information librarian and trained business specialists to take a tour of the databases, programs, and resources that are available — anything from starting a Facebook business account to identifying what skills they might need to build.”

Library as Event Space

Public library events — from concerts, plays, and gallery displays, to author visits and group discussions — are typically free to all in a time when the rising costs of ticketed events are becoming out of reach for many. Designers are creating gathering spaces within public libraries that provide flexibility to host a variety of events, though many times one space cannot effectively support the diverse nature of all events. Too much flexibility can lead to a space that does not serve any event well. Events may differ in their needs for acoustic control, audio-visual requirements, sightlines or access to natural light. And event spaces may have differing hours of operation from the library that need to be taken into account when designing entry points and access to restrooms and other supplemental spaces.

Library as a Place to Interact and Connect

To create a community, people need to intersect, interact, and connect with each other. At the library, new moms connect at children’s story time, older adults attend events and find that they make new friends, and teenagers have a place to meet up after school. People forge business, as well as friendship ties, and they learn from experts, as well as each other — all helping to forge bonds that build the trust that creates community. Our public libraries are and should continue to be the forges that create engagement that makes impact on community.

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40 Facts About Elektrostal

Written by Lanette Mayes

Modified & Updated: 21 May 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

Elektrostal is a vibrant city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia. With a rich history, stunning architecture, and a thriving community, Elektrostal is a city that has much to offer. Whether you are a history buff, nature enthusiast, or simply curious about different cultures, Elektrostal is sure to captivate you.

This article will provide you with 40 fascinating facts about Elektrostal, giving you a better understanding of why this city is worth exploring. From its origins as an industrial hub to its modern-day charm, we will delve into the various aspects that make Elektrostal a unique and must-visit destination.

So, join us as we uncover the hidden treasures of Elektrostal and discover what makes this city a true gem in the heart of Russia.

Key Takeaways:

• Elektrostal, known as the “Motor City of Russia,” is a vibrant and growing city with a rich industrial history, offering diverse cultural experiences and a strong commitment to environmental sustainability.
• With its convenient location near Moscow, Elektrostal provides a picturesque landscape, vibrant nightlife, and a range of recreational activities, making it an ideal destination for residents and visitors alike.

Known as the “Motor City of Russia.”

Elektrostal, a city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia, earned the nickname “Motor City” due to its significant involvement in the automotive industry.

Home to the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Elektrostal is renowned for its metallurgical plant, which has been producing high-quality steel and alloys since its establishment in 1916.

Boasts a rich industrial heritage.

Elektrostal has a long history of industrial development, contributing to the growth and progress of the region.

Founded in 1916.

The city of Elektrostal was founded in 1916 as a result of the construction of the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Located approximately 50 kilometers east of Moscow.

Elektrostal is situated in close proximity to the Russian capital, making it easily accessible for both residents and visitors.

Known for its vibrant cultural scene.

Elektrostal is home to several cultural institutions, including museums, theaters, and art galleries that showcase the city’s rich artistic heritage.

A popular destination for nature lovers.

Surrounded by picturesque landscapes and forests, Elektrostal offers ample opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, and birdwatching.

Hosts the annual Elektrostal City Day celebrations.

Every year, Elektrostal organizes festive events and activities to celebrate its founding, bringing together residents and visitors in a spirit of unity and joy.

Has a population of approximately 160,000 people.

Elektrostal is home to a diverse and vibrant community of around 160,000 residents, contributing to its dynamic atmosphere.

Boasts excellent education facilities.

The city is known for its well-established educational institutions, providing quality education to students of all ages.

A center for scientific research and innovation.

Elektrostal serves as an important hub for scientific research, particularly in the fields of metallurgy , materials science, and engineering.

Surrounded by picturesque lakes.

The city is blessed with numerous beautiful lakes , offering scenic views and recreational opportunities for locals and visitors alike.

Well-connected transportation system.

Elektrostal benefits from an efficient transportation network, including highways, railways, and public transportation options, ensuring convenient travel within and beyond the city.

Famous for its traditional Russian cuisine.

Food enthusiasts can indulge in authentic Russian dishes at numerous restaurants and cafes scattered throughout Elektrostal.

Home to notable architectural landmarks.

Elektrostal boasts impressive architecture, including the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Elektrostal Palace of Culture.

Offers a wide range of recreational facilities.

Residents and visitors can enjoy various recreational activities, such as sports complexes, swimming pools, and fitness centers, enhancing the overall quality of life.

Provides a high standard of healthcare.

Elektrostal is equipped with modern medical facilities, ensuring residents have access to quality healthcare services.

Home to the Elektrostal History Museum.

The Elektrostal History Museum showcases the city’s fascinating past through exhibitions and displays.

A hub for sports enthusiasts.

Elektrostal is passionate about sports, with numerous stadiums, arenas, and sports clubs offering opportunities for athletes and spectators.

Celebrates diverse cultural festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal hosts a variety of cultural festivals, celebrating different ethnicities, traditions, and art forms.

Electric power played a significant role in its early development.

Elektrostal owes its name and initial growth to the establishment of electric power stations and the utilization of electricity in the industrial sector.

Boasts a thriving economy.

The city’s strong industrial base, coupled with its strategic location near Moscow, has contributed to Elektrostal’s prosperous economic status.

Houses the Elektrostal Drama Theater.

The Elektrostal Drama Theater is a cultural centerpiece, attracting theater enthusiasts from far and wide.

Popular destination for winter sports.

Elektrostal’s proximity to ski resorts and winter sport facilities makes it a favorite destination for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter activities.

Promotes environmental sustainability.

Elektrostal prioritizes environmental protection and sustainability, implementing initiatives to reduce pollution and preserve natural resources.

Home to renowned educational institutions.

Elektrostal is known for its prestigious schools and universities, offering a wide range of academic programs to students.

Committed to cultural preservation.

The city values its cultural heritage and takes active steps to preserve and promote traditional customs, crafts, and arts.

Hosts an annual International Film Festival.

The Elektrostal International Film Festival attracts filmmakers and cinema enthusiasts from around the world, showcasing a diverse range of films.

Encourages entrepreneurship and innovation.

Elektrostal supports aspiring entrepreneurs and fosters a culture of innovation, providing opportunities for startups and business development.

Offers a range of housing options.

Elektrostal provides diverse housing options, including apartments, houses, and residential complexes, catering to different lifestyles and budgets.

Home to notable sports teams.

Elektrostal is proud of its sports legacy, with several successful sports teams competing at regional and national levels.

Boasts a vibrant nightlife scene.

Residents and visitors can enjoy a lively nightlife in Elektrostal, with numerous bars, clubs, and entertainment venues.

Promotes cultural exchange and international relations.

Elektrostal actively engages in international partnerships, cultural exchanges, and diplomatic collaborations to foster global connections.

Surrounded by beautiful nature reserves.

Nearby nature reserves, such as the Barybino Forest and Luchinskoye Lake, offer opportunities for nature enthusiasts to explore and appreciate the region’s biodiversity.

Commemorates historical events.

The city pays tribute to significant historical events through memorials, monuments, and exhibitions, ensuring the preservation of collective memory.

Promotes sports and youth development.

Elektrostal invests in sports infrastructure and programs to encourage youth participation, health, and physical fitness.

Hosts annual cultural and artistic festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal celebrates its cultural diversity through festivals dedicated to music, dance, art, and theater.

Provides a picturesque landscape for photography enthusiasts.

The city’s scenic beauty, architectural landmarks, and natural surroundings make it a paradise for photographers.

Connects to Moscow via a direct train line.

The convenient train connection between Elektrostal and Moscow makes commuting between the two cities effortless.

A city with a bright future.

Elektrostal continues to grow and develop, aiming to become a model city in terms of infrastructure, sustainability, and quality of life for its residents.

In conclusion, Elektrostal is a fascinating city with a rich history and a vibrant present. From its origins as a center of steel production to its modern-day status as a hub for education and industry, Elektrostal has plenty to offer both residents and visitors. With its beautiful parks, cultural attractions, and proximity to Moscow, there is no shortage of things to see and do in this dynamic city. Whether you’re interested in exploring its historical landmarks, enjoying outdoor activities, or immersing yourself in the local culture, Elektrostal has something for everyone. So, next time you find yourself in the Moscow region, don’t miss the opportunity to discover the hidden gems of Elektrostal.

Q: What is the population of Elektrostal?

A: As of the latest data, the population of Elektrostal is approximately XXXX.

Q: How far is Elektrostal from Moscow?

A: Elektrostal is located approximately XX kilometers away from Moscow.

Q: Are there any famous landmarks in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to several notable landmarks, including XXXX and XXXX.

Q: What industries are prominent in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal is known for its steel production industry and is also a center for engineering and manufacturing.

Q: Are there any universities or educational institutions in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to XXXX University and several other educational institutions.

Q: What are some popular outdoor activities in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal offers several outdoor activities, such as hiking, cycling, and picnicking in its beautiful parks.

Q: Is Elektrostal well-connected in terms of transportation?

A: Yes, Elektrostal has good transportation links, including trains and buses, making it easily accessible from nearby cities.

Q: Are there any annual events or festivals in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal hosts various events and festivals throughout the year, including XXXX and XXXX.

Elektrostal's fascinating history, vibrant culture, and promising future make it a city worth exploring. For more captivating facts about cities around the world, discover the unique characteristics that define each city . Uncover the hidden gems of Moscow Oblast through our in-depth look at Kolomna. Lastly, dive into the rich industrial heritage of Teesside, a thriving industrial center with its own story to tell.

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