Final Schematic Design for New Library

At the January meeting of the Board of Trustees of the library, the Final Schematic Design for the new library was approved. This followed months of work by Vincent Benic Architect, Galvan Foundation and the library. Benic gave a presentation on December 7, 2012 to the Board and representatives from the Galvan Foundation. See more images from this presentation and learn more about progress towards the new library below.

For those who are not familiar with the Armory here are a few images to orient you.

(click on any image for a larger view. Then use your browser’s “back” button to return.)

A PDF version of this posting is available for download here.

Exterior and Interior Photographs of the Armory Today

What Are Schematic Designs?

Schematic designs are amongst the first tasks in designing a building. The purpose of the floor plans, cross sections and other drawings is to illustrate how the building will fulfill functional requirements.

In the case of our library, we worked last year with a library design consultant with input from interested community members through a series of focus groups and online questionnaires to define the program, the functional requirements, for our new library. Those documents defined the types of activities and how much space would be required in the new facility. For example, how large should the children’s area be, how large for adults, teens, and so on. How many books, DVDs, magazines etc need to be displayed and stored? And much more…..

The final schematic drawings show how these functions will be arranged, the flow of people into and through the building, and many other elements.

The Entrance to the Library

There is an eight foot vertical rise from the sidewalk on State St. to the bottom of the door on the Armory. To provide a pleasing solution to the ramps required for accessibility and to break up the many steps, a plaza has been designed. This plaza will also provide outdoor seating during good weather.

The Schematic of the Library

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 Notes

1. The new library is approximately 11,464 sq. ft plus 1,200 sq. ft in the Community Meeting room. A total of 12,664 sq. ft. The library currently uses approximately 6,149 sq. ft at 400 State St.
2. The Children’s Library provides areas for three age groups, pre-school, young school-aged, and pre-teen. 
3. The Teen Library is located under the mezzanine and is separated from the open spaces of the library by a glass wall.
4. The Popular Library section, just to the left of the entrance, will display the most popular materials as well as new additions to the collection.
5. Internet access will be available through WiFi. Computers will be available for three different groups: children, teens and adults. Additional computers will be dedicated for searching the library’s catalog and other online resources. Finally, patrons will find self-service check-in and check-out services available adjacent to the main entrance.
6. The Local History Room will house all materials in locked storage. The History Room is a climate controlled (temperature and relative humidity) room to insure the safe and secure storage of the library’s collection of rare books and historic items.These will be available during regularly scheduled hours and by appointment. The History Room will provide an extra meeting room or quiet study area when it is not in use as a history room.
7. In contrast to the present library every are of the new library will be accessible whether for wheelchairs, walkers or baby strollers.
8. The classroom on the mezzanine level will seat 25 or, with a movable wall, be easily divided into two classrooms. The mezzanine level will be accessed either via the circular staircase or by elevator from the adjacent Education Wing of the Galvan Community Learning Center.
9. The 1,200 sq. ft. Community Meeting Room will seat up to 80 people. It will be used primarily for Library programming. Significantly it is designed so that it will be available for use even when the library is closed. The library will administer the availability of the room for non-library uses. Access will be through the Fifth st. entrance when the library is closed. Two bathrooms and a warming kitchen are included.
10. The Galvan Community Learning Center (the whole of the Armory building including the new Education Wing) is a project of the Galvan Foundation. They are undertaking the renovation of the Armory including new HVAC, electrical, windows, doors, and the exterior plaza and other landscaping. The Hudson Area Library is responsible for the costs of all of the furniture, fittings and equipment that make the space a library.
11. The library will hold a thirty year lease for $12 per year for the space and be responsible for all utility costs.

Next Steps

The architect is now moving to the detail design phase which will last for three months. When this work is completed, much more detailed drawings, including elevations and perspective drawings will give a much clearer view of what the library will look like. And, much more detailed cost estimates will be available.

Move In

We expect to move into the new library in September 2014.