The Big Reveal

The goal for redesigning the Ringer Library, in the broadest sense, is to reconfigure existing spaces and to add additional space to the library that will allow it to better serve the demands placed upon it by the community. These leaves lots of room for interpretation. However, the audit within the RFQ offers some redesign “suggestions”, some of which are more rigid than others. Long term costs should be considered, staff input must be followed, and noise levels must be reduced. All spaces could use improvements in some way, but our team decided to use most of our resources, both literal and figurative, towards the staff and support spaces, the children’s and teen spaces, and the common areas and furnishings.

   

We created this form for additional space for a few reasons. We wanted to use existing elements of the library in our new space. We thought that the barrel vault (red) was one of the best elements of the current building. It continues to cut through the space and create a main circulation along the long axis of the building. The existing curve on the south wall lent itself to being extended to define a boundary for the new space. It continues to create interest along this face of the building. We wanted to expand in this direction because we feel that this area of the site has more intrinsic value with its proximity to the street and neighboring school. Mirroring the rectilinear portion of the library across the short axis in blue creates an opportunity for a new main entrance to the building. We feel this will provide opportunities for outdoor space on both sides of the building, create a better connection with the adjacent road, and the community as a whole. The new entrance will be more visible, accessible, and inviting than the previous one. It is our hope that this will ultimately increase library patronage.

The staff space needs to be redesigned for a number of reasons. Our class’ case studies showed that most community libraries have a larger percentage of space dedicated towards staff area than Ringer Library does. During our visit to the library, employees lamented their current space quite heavily. Although this was something that one might expect during a tour for a proposed redesign, the staff workroom really does have lots of room for improvement. We would accomplish by incorporating several adjacent “dead” spaces into the staff workroom, and reworking the current space that exists. There are two meeting rooms next to the staff room. They appear to be seldom used. We would like to make these areas usable staff work space. There is also a courtyard outside the staff space, to use the term generously. The courtyard isn’t a usable space as it stands. We would convert the courtyard into a conditioned interior space for more staff work area. This would increase the square footage of the staff area by at least 300 square feet, or 25% of its previous size. Creating a better staff space should allow employees to work more efficiently. This follows staff input, and would effectively reduce long term operational costs by allowing staff to do more in less time.

    Both the children’s and teen spaces would be relocated to a new wing of the library. This would be the space that our group has added on the eastern side of the building. Staff members made it clear that children comprise a large portion of library patrons. Ringer Library plays host to a number of events and camps for children throughout the year. Current children’s spaces cannot adequately meet the needs posed by these events. We would like to move the children’s space to the new wing of the library. This is a more sequestered space, and could easily be divided by a partition or curtain wall if desired. Doing this should greatly reduce noise levels throughout the common areas of the library. The current reference desk in the children’s space would also be moved to the new wing of the library, adjacent to the new entrance. This would allow librarians to monitor the doorway and the children’s space without requiring an additional staff member to be assigned to a new area.

    The common area would now have open space along the north wall where the children’s area used to be. These areas could now contain meeting rooms, stacks, and seating space. The furnishing throughout the commons would be replaced. Today, there are too many large tables in the library. During our visit to the library, every one of these tables was occupied by a single person. Providing more individual seating in the commons will allow for the same number of people to be seated in a smaller area, effectively creating more spaces for stacks and meeting areas.