The current issue of Architectural Record showcases three libraries that were recently completed.

The first of these is the Hercules Public Library in Hercules, California. It’s a 21,000 sqft building, completed at a cost of $10.4M.

Hercules has a diverse ethnic community, and 42 percent of its families have children under the age of 18. HGA’s design augments the bedroom community’s goal of creating a facility with a “sense of place� that is a social and multicultural center for local residents and their children.

In addition to being a research facility, and housing approximately 800,000 international books and periodicals, the library features a teen homework center, a “story cove� for children’s reading events, art gallery for local artists, reading area with fireside seating, meeting and study rooms, computer stations with Internet access, and a café. A variety of subdued, primary colors creates visual separation to indicate specific seating areas. Books are displayed to catch the eye as though at a bookstore. The library also provides cultural and community events and after-school and tutoring programs for K-12 students. (Architectural Record 2/08)

I actually think I drove through Hercules during last year’s road trip, but I didn’t know about the library. I would certainly have stopped to take a look, or made a detour if necessary to see it. It looks like an outstanding building.

The next building showcased is the Cesar Chavez branch library in Laveen, Arizona. It’s a 25,000 sqft building. Construction costs were $5M.

Laveen, like most suburbs, lacks a nucleus. The design team wanted to create a “living room� for a rapidly growing population of 45,000 residents. The library needed to appeal to people of all ages, particularly children and teens, given the site’s proximity to a high school. “Encouraging family interaction was one of our goals,� explains Les Wallach, the founder and principal of Line and Space. The facility was to house 140,000 media materials and include a computer lab and multipurpose room. (Architectural Record 2/08)

The last building is the Mulberry Street branch library in New York City. 15,000 sqft of space was created at a construction cost of $4.5M. It looks like a very successful design and a great example of reuse.

Working on a tight budget, Rogers & Marvel retained as many of the space’s original details as possible. On the ground floor, they exposed cast-iron columns and wood ceiling joists, while on lower levels they preserved existing masonry walls. For the stair, they chose perforated-aluminum panels and mahogany railings. The floors are a mixture of wood and polished concrete. (Architectural Record 2/08)

David Chipperflield’s Des Moines library was also mentioned in a separate article on p.89. That’s one building I did see during my road trip, and the design is quite successful, though the interior is a little dark. It features an ingenious copper mesh facade.

The best library during that trip, though, was most certainly Rem Koolhaas’s jaw-dropping Seattle Central Library. It reminded me in many ways of my high school library, which remains my favorite library in the world.

You can see many more libraries on the Architectural Record site.

When you see and read about these buildings, it’s heartbreaking in a way, because in the past ten years, we’ve had a lot of chances to build great buildings, but instead we’ve always settled for the ho-hum. What is it about us, and why do these other cities have the foresight and the good taste to build landmarks that attract the praise of critics and the attention of the world?

Surely, the people of Elgin who have such a distinguished history, who have always moved forward, who have never feared the future, but welcomed it, who had the audacity to raze a block and build an AIA award-winning civic center, did not suddenly retreat into the past and set a low bar for themselves. So how did it happen?

But more importantly, how do we break out of it? How do we start acting like a world-class city instead of a third-rate suburb? Some will say we don’t have the resources. But how can that be true? How many cities in America have a cash cow that throws off well in excess of $20M a year (the 2008 city budget forecasted $28M in casino revenues)? And what is that money being used for?

Our city leaders should be reminded that riverboat revenues were meant for economic redevelopment and revitalization, not other stuff. When that casino money is gone, which can happen any day at the whim of the legislature, what will we have to show for it?

I wish that we will have a city transformed, a center of art, culture and commerce, a city of beautiful architecture and the envy of Illinois. I want people to choose Elgin over Chicago, not because it has more, but because it has so much in such a small space, so that you always have something beautiful to stare at, whichever way you look, so that you’re always inspired.

Filed under: arts, downtown.
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