New Central Library Design Unveiled
- September 8, 2014
- By Cody Battershill
New Central Library Design is Absolutely Marvelous!
It’s sleek, sophisticated and downright stunning. The New Central Library’s (NCL) design is one that will have passerby’s pausing and looking as most tourists do when they visit somewhere new and discover unique architecture never seen before.
The library’s architect team - DIALOG and Snøhetta - came up with a curved white and translucent facade covered by a pattern quite unlike the square blue-glass panes across the street at City Hall.
The façade sits over top two pedestrian walkways shaped like a chinook arch and are on either side of the new library. Snøhetta co-founder and architect Craig Dykers says this design feature will “allow us to feel the sensitivity of nature in the heart of Calgary”. Cool!
With part of the structure being built above the south LRT line, other plans include another chinook inspired archway made out of a warm-coloured wood which should also remind us of those lovely warm chinooks we have, an ingenious design seemingly taken from a page out of Eighth Avenue Place’s “Rocky Mountain silhouette” manual.
Completion for the New Central Library at 7th Avenue and 3rd Street SE is expected sometime in 2018. When finished, it will serve as a main cultural hub in East Village and connect the downtown core with the newly revitalized area.
Inside the NCL
Inside there will be a massive skylight over top a centralized four-storey atrium that will allow natural light to permeate all floors of the building.
On the bottom floors there will be a number of recreational and meeting rooms, while the upper floors will feature a great reading room and many, many book shelves that you would expect to see in any library.
In light of the floods of June 2013, there will be no basement in the new library which is already being constructed well above the flood-plain according to the developing team – because you just never know what Mother Nature will bring!
The NCL in East Village has been said to be one of the most important public buildings to be built in Calgary in over two decades. What do you think about the new project? Leave us a line below and let us know!
Want to know more about the East Village community redevelopment? Find everything you need to know at our East Village Calgary Index today!
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