The library of today is more than an externalization of the dewy decimal system, it is a place for communities to converge and engage in the act of learning. This quarter we redefined the library as a “mediatheque” to better capture the programming needs of the contemporary library. Today many people learn through a vast array of digital media and communal educational engagement in conjunction with physical books; the library of today reflects such digital and collective needs.
The renovation and expansion of libraries in Portland made possible through the 2020 Multnomah County Library Capital Bond Program was another focus this quarter. This provided a great opportunity to study the design decisions of libraries designed in Portland recently. I visited libraries such as Holgate (Bora and Colloquate), Beaverton (BORA), Albina (Lever), Midland (Bora and Coloquate), and East County Library (Holst) to understand new programming needs, offerings, and how people are engaging in those spaces. I observed that while many of these spaces offered generous seating arrangements for individual study, sometimes those spaces were not sufficient and there were more people than seating. Portlanders love their libraries! The Multnomah County Library Bond required extensive community engagement. During the initial design phases of the Midland Library, Colloqate orchestrated intensive community engagement workshops. As a result of community input, Midland has ample “flex” rooms for group events and facade designs directly designed from community members.
The concept for my building was driven by the relationship between introversion and extroversion, public and private, collective experiencing and personal reflection. The community aspect of my library is an auditorium that can be used after hours. There is a nook-heavy program to encourage people to seek out spaces to study and quitetude. The overall massing is dynamic and irregular to contribute character to the streetscape and create nooks and flex rooms. The building structural system is glulam columns and beams and mass timber floor plates. The sawtooth roof windows pitch north for ambient sun exposure, and the standing seam metal roof pitch south for solar gain and PV array. This quarter we learned Rhino and developed our model, plans, and renderings in Rhino.
The site is in the center of the Brooklyn Neighborhood in SE Portland: 3834 SE Milwaukie Ave.
Snapshots of the final version of the model in Rhino:
1/8″ : 1′-0″ model, cardboard, construction paper, and plywood:
Early process work and greater site research:
angiexxallen.com 