A multipurpose library. Adams Street Library by WORKac
21/10/2023.
[Brooklyn] USA
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO, JORGE MARTINEZ
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO, JORGE MARTINEZ
WORKac architecture firm was commissioned to build the new Brooklyn Public Library after 20 years without opening any new branches. The project involves a renovation of the ground floor of a building built in 1901, under the Manhattan Bridge as it passes through the East River, in the historic district of the Dumbo neighborhood.
The building was originally a torpedo factory and later a recycling facility, but today the building houses apartments and commercial spaces, as well as the new library. The architects established the project based on the different opinions of the local residents, who indicated a lack of spaces for the neighborhood children.
The building was originally a torpedo factory and later a recycling facility, but today the building houses apartments and commercial spaces, as well as the new library. The architects established the project based on the different opinions of the local residents, who indicated a lack of spaces for the neighborhood children.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Floor plan. Adams Street Library by WORKac.
The new Adams Street Library, designed by the WORKac architecture studio, is a library that develops around an elevated central space programmed for neighborhood children. The envelope of this space incorporates other spaces dedicated to learning activities, reading stories, books, reading and views of the Brooklyn Bridge park.
The exterior façade stands out for a large screen-printed sign with the word "LIBRARY" that, along with the rhythm generated by the windows, the Historical Monuments Commission highlighted its creative use of the precedent established by the historical signs painted in the neighborhood.
The exterior façade stands out for a large screen-printed sign with the word "LIBRARY" that, along with the rhythm generated by the windows, the Historical Monuments Commission highlighted its creative use of the precedent established by the historical signs painted in the neighborhood.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Project description by WORKac
The new Adams Street Library is the Brooklyn Public Library’s first new branch to open in more than twenty years. Extensive, architect-led community outreach within neighboring Dumbo, Vinegar Hill, and the Farragut Houses indicated that children’s spaces and programming were lacking – and important — to residents across the diverse neighborhoods. The design therefore puts children at its center, the envelope incorporating spaces for learning activities, story time, books, reading, and views out to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The library also offers new collections, technology, and extensive programming for teens and young adults in a dedicated teen area.
Two large, flexible multipurpose spaces with stackable chairs and foldable tables, whiteboards and a kitchenette provide much-needed space for community gatherings and meetings. Technology is readily accessible to patrons with free Wi-Fi throughout, hard-wired charging and power built into the reading tables and projection capability in the large community room. The library also has generous spaces for staff and public, gender-inclusive restrooms.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
The branch is located under the Manhattan Bridge in the DUMBO Historic District, within a 1901 industrial building that has been many different things: a torpedo factory, a recycling facility, and now apartments and commercial spaces. The design takes inspiration from this layered history. We were able to prove the required fire separation would be provided by the heavy timber ceiling which is therefore exposed through curved openings in a contemporary ceiling. The dialogue between old and new continues throughout the space. The patinaed brick perimeter walls are also exposed and contrasted with a series of pixelated murals depicting images of nature inspired by the neighborhood.
Surrounded by 15-foot windows, the library is designed as a series of open spaces around a porous pavilion that houses an elevated children’s area, allowing kids to see out over the main reading room toward the Manhattan skyline, the East River, and the park. Clad in a maple-veneered MDF that is CNC-milled with a custom pattern, the pavilion combines programmed niches for stroller parking and book storage with large curvaceous openings. The interior is clad in cheerful orange hues and contains a space for story time and steps to sit and play on.
Adams Street Library by WORKac. Photography by Bruce Damonte.
Outside, the entrance is demarcated by a super-graphic sign reading “LIBRARY.” This sign was approved by the Landmarks Commission which noted its creative use of the precedent set by historic painted signs in the neighborhood. Visible from across the East River, it gives a clear identity and invitation to this vital public amenity.
More information
Architects
WORKac. Lead architects.- Amale Andraos, Dan Wood. Project Architects.- Dan Wood.
Project team
Zahid Ajam, Nevin Blum, Ania Yee-Boguinskaia, Giorgia Cedro, Leslie Dougrou, Kelly Lee.
Collaborators
Structural.- LERA.
MEP.- DOSE Engineering.
Lighting.- Tillotson Design Associates.
Graphics.- Linked By Air.
Code.- CCBS Consultants.
AV/IT.- CERAMI.
Cost.- Costrak Consulting.
Contractor
Shawmut Design & Construction.
Area
604 sqm. (6,500 sqf).
Dates
2021.
Location
9 Adams St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, United States.
Photography
Dan Wood-Amale Andraos. WORKac
WORKac is interested in positing architecture at the intersection of the urban, the rural and the natural. They embrace reinvention and collaborate with other fields to rethink architecture ‘in the world.’ In the face of overwhelming challenges and increasingly normative scenarios, they remain stubborn in our commitment to imagine alternate scenarios for the future of cities. They appropriate the more productive aspects of the urban discourse – from density and compression, to appropriateness of scale, the expression of intelligent and shared infrastructures, and a more careful integration between architecture, landscape and ecological systems – to bear upon architecture as we find shared concerns across their global practice. They hold unshakable lightness and polemical optimism as a means to move beyond the projected and towards the possible, an ambition with which they approach every project.
Dan Wood, FAIA, LEED AP, leads international projects for WORKac ranging from masterplans to buildings across the United States as well as in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Wood holds the 2013-14 Louis I. Kahn Chair at the Yale School of Architecture and has taught at the Princeton University School of Architecture, the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Ohio State University’s Knowlton School of Architecture, and the UC Berkeley School of Environmental Design, where he was the Friedman Distinguished Chair. Wood is originally from Rhode Island and lived in Paris and in the Netherlands for many years before moving to New York in 2002. He is a licensed architect in the State of New York and is LEED certified.
Amale Andraos is the dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. She has taught at numerous institutions including the Princeton University School of Architecture, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the University of Pennsylvania Design School, and the American University in Beirut. Andraos is committed to research and publications. Her work has recently explored the question of representation by re-examining the concept of the ‘Arab City.’ Andraos was born in Beirut, Lebanon. She has lived in Saudi Arabia, France, Canada, and the Netherlands prior to moving to New York in 2002. She serves on the board of the Architectural League of New York, the Advisory Board of the Arab Center for Architecture in Beirut and is a member of the faculty steering committee for the Columbia Global Centers | Middle East.
