Norman Public Library Central

New central library that advances the city’s ambitious quality of life goals for its citizens

Together with the new Norman Public Library East Library, the new central library furthers the city’s “Norman Forward” citizen-initiated goals to fund and create quality of life projects for the community. It serves as a new town hall with shared community spaces, conference rooms, a technology lab, a genealogy research workspace, and a multipurpose room that can accommodate a range of events. The new library provides highly flexible spaces for collaborative learning, new education models, digital literacy, and information sharing, including a makerspace. Sky and plinth design elements represent the intersection of Oklahoma’s iron rich topography and open sky of the prairie. The courtyard features a specially commissioned sculpture entitled “Unbound” created by London artist Paul Cocksedge. Registered for LEED-NC v.3 Silver certification, the project features a range of passive design strategies, including a visible stormwater management system with interpretive signage to educate visitors about the process, optimized daylighting and shading, and orientation of the building on the site to mitigate solar gain.