Archives

1. Missoula Public Library

   The new building houses four other community organizations (MCAT, Families First Learning Lab, SpectrUM Discovery Area, and the University of Montana Living Lab) to create a library, museum, and science and community center that blends Missoula’s rich heritage with world-class innovations all under one roof. The design process involved an intensive week-long visioning session with leadership from the library and partner organizations to establish project goals and guiding principles. The main floor offers a marketplace with a cafe, retail store, new library materials, and the audiovisual collection; a makerspace; MCAT’s high tech production studio, equipment check-out services, and sound booths; a teens’ area; and the University of Montana Living Lab. Focused on children, families, and play, the second floor houses the Hank and Nancy Harrington Children’s Library, Families First Learning Lab, SpectrUM Disovery Area, and a mix of collaborative learning spaces shared by the partner organizations. The third floor includes a demonstration kitchen, reference services, fiction and nonfiction collections, a business center, and genealogy center. The top floor provides spaces for public engagement and gathering and access to an exterior patio.

   MSR Design served as design architect and interior designer, and A&E Design was the architect of record.

    

    

2. L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library

   Design guiding principles for this library building transformation included creating a destination for the region that serves as the heart of the city and linking the building to the Eau Claire River and downtown civic facilities. Stakeholder-directed improvements include a 200-seat program space, an expanded children’s area, a mix of meeting rooms, quiet spaces for study, space for tweens and teens, and a learning lab. Inclusive design elements include aspects that support neurodiversity, gender-inclusive toilet rooms, and comfort rooms.

   A makerspace called the Dabble Box and innovation lab spaces provide access to specialized technology, teaching kitchen equipment, and art equipment to support maker sessions, STEAM-based education, and nutrition literacy. All major building systems, dating back to 1975, were replaced with more efficient and sustainable systems, including a geothermal heating and cooling system that runs below the plaza. Redesigned vertical circulation provides more intuitive wayfinding and better visual connections between all four floors.

3. Fayetteville Public Library

   This expansion to a community library, originally designed by MSR Design, redefines the traditional public library model, providing enhanced educational opportunities, services, and innovative programming for all ages. The expansion follows the sloping topography sited below the existing building to create a three-sided courtyard with local plantings that serves as a new public gathering space.

   The addition includes a 700-seat, flexible event center that serves as a full-function auditorium; additional meeting and group study spaces; greatly expanded youth services; an innovation center with audio recording studio, video recording studio, editing suites, virtual reality studio, photography studio, a simulation lab, and a fabrication and robotics lab; an art and movement room; an expanded children’s library; a private teens-only lounge and gaming center; a green roof; a commercial teaching kitchen for cooking classes and food production; and a deli that serves the community.

4. Louisville Free Public Library Northeast Regional Library

   Located adjacent to a historic house and landscape, Louisville Free Public Library’s third regional library brings service to an outlying region of the city. Conceived as a pavilion in a park, the building offers sweeping views of the park and historic site. It features a special technology-driven classroom, highly flexible reading room, makerspace with audiovisual lab and demonstration kitchen, and a college corner in the teens’ area. A column-free interior, multi-function access flooring, and rooms enclosed by movable furnishings support adaptability to meet perpetually evolving library demands and ambitions. Sustainable design strategies contributing to the building’s LEED-NC v.3 Gold certification include siting the building to take advantage of natural daylight and a geothermal mechanical system, among numerous others. Circulation for the first month of operation broke the library system’s previous record by 25%.

   MSR Design collaborated with architect JRA Architects and landscape architect MKSK.

5. Hennepin County Library Southdale Library & Edina Art Center

   This new regional library and art gallery will serve as an extension of an 8-acre urban green space, featuring a trailhead for regional trails, activated terrain, native plantings, and wetland gardens. A partnership between the Hennepin County Library and Edina Art Center, the new building will showcase how these community organizations are better together. The library and arts center is designed to meet the ambitious goals of Hennepin County’s Climate Action Plan and the State of Minnesota’s B3 sustainable guidelines. A combination of passive design, a high-performance façade, efficient building systems, and on-site renewables will enable the project to achieve near net-zero energy. The completed design will include a spectrum of restorative landscapes, from open water within the low areas of the site to wet prairies, a freshwater marsh, tallgrass prairies, and oak barrens. The library and arts center will also serve as a trailhead for the Nine Mile Creek regional trail system and provide a missing link in the Edina Promenade to connect local parks and regional assets.

6. Tulsa City-County Central Library

   The design team targeted three primary goals for the project: 1. Become a downtown destination that contributes to renewal of the urban core. 2. Create a library building that responds to 21st-century library needs. 3. Be generative, positively impacting library users, the surrounding community, the library industry, and the environment.

   To achieve these goals, the design team crafted a building program and architectural response that includes a revitalized, humanized civic plaza and new public garden for programming and community events; a clear, secure entry sequence in which all ways of entering the library collect into one main lobby area; a new parking garage; an interactive education center; a maker space; and a destination children’s library with direct access to the garden. Sustainable measures include improved thermal performance of the entire building envelope, daylight harvesting and lighting strategies, and the first rooftop photovoltaic solar array installed on a Tulsa building.

7. Madison Public Library Central Library

   The library has been completely transformed to adapt gracefully over time, provide a user-centric environment that addresses both customer and staff needs, and offer a community destination that enhances Madison’s cultural offerings. A huge success, the transformed library has become a popular and vibrant community amenity that has spurred urban redevelopment. Since its reopening in September 2013, the third floor spaces have been continuously booked for everything from art openings and concerts to fundraisers and weddings, and new businesses have opened on adjacent blocks, further increasing the vitality of a part of the city that was previously struggling.

   Potter Lawson served as associate architect, also providing cost estimating and electrical engineering for the project.

8. Bentonville Public Library Expansion

   This expansion to a beloved community library will offer more amenities and unique opportunities to learn, connect, gather, and participate in enriched programming. The expansion will reflect the community library’s values, including reading and education (focusing on all forms of learning for all ages, backgrounds, and abilities), arts and culture, bicycling and trails, connections to nature, collaboration, human services, and equitable access. New features will include an expanded children’s area with storytime space and craft area; a centrally-located, flexible makerspace; an expanded teens’ zone; additional meeting rooms; and an expanded Friends bookstore.

9. Louisville Free Public Library South Central Regional Library

   This library in the trees is the second of three new regional libraries to be added to the Louisville Free Public Library system as part of the facilities master plan prepared by MSR Design. A delicate insertion into a grove of trees, the building stands out in a region of Kentucky where clearcutting sites is standard practice. Tree preservation, daylight harvesting, and energy conservation serve as design guiding principles. The design team oriented the library on the site to take advantage of forest preservation, optimal solar access, and stormwater management. Areas for reading and gathering extend into the landscape through planned contemplative views and seating in the parking grove. Certified LEED-NC v. 3 Gold, the project includes a range of energy-saving measures.

   MSR Design collaborated with architect JRA Architects and landscape architect MKSK.

    

    

10. Songdo International City Library Design Competition

    MSR Design’s design competition submission for the Songdo International City Library proposes 21st-century library services in a series of 24/7 spaces connected to the public park system. The dramatic engagement of a spiraling park connects all four levels of service together through outdoor public programming that can operate day and night. A central community core and high performing building enclosure ensure daylight reaches all library spaces and promote connectivity between generations. The flexible library spaces between the community core and park areas are designed to accommodate active and passive activities, while allowing direct access to information.