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%.
AIA/ALA Library Building Award
AIA Kentucky Honor Award
AIA Minnesota Commendation for Excellence in Design for Equitable Communities
Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award
Client
Louisville Free Public Library
Location
Louisville, KY
Project Type
Library | Cultural Space | Educational Environment | Government Facility
Size
35,511 SF
Certifications
Certified LEED-NC v.3 Gold
Roles
MSR Design & JRA Architects | Architects
Status
Complete
Equitable Communities
90% of residents now live within 5 miles of a library
Ecosystems
90% of site post-construction vegetation
Economy
11% floor area reduction with 300% increase in community programming
Water
100% on-site stormwater management
“The transparency of this library-in-a-park is amazing. The interiors are filled with natural light and accented with color in all the right places.”
—AIA Minnesota Commendation for Excellence in Design Jury
