Project overview: Located in Dorchester, the Adams Branch Library is nestled into one of Boston’s great working-class neighborhoods. Situated at a focal point where Adams Street bends, the building serves as a marker for the neighborhood. Accordingly, the front façade is characterized by a single attenuated pitch, monumentalizing its presence on its public face. In contrast, the back face is punctuated by a series of small roof pitches, each corresponding to the programs of the service areas and capturing the residential scale of the houses in the back. A folded roof connecting the two faces creates what is akin to a fifth façade, directing water toward the eastern walkway and creating a rain garden. A single-level building, the configuration of the library is organized as three wings with two gardens. The South Garden contains herbs and native plants, an extension of the pedagogical function of the library. The North Garden is an outdoor reading room sheltered by an existing oak tree over a century old.
The community-led design process created an interesting schism between the configuration of the plan in relation to the figuration of the building. For instance, the separation of adults, teens, and children is the result of myriad community focus group meetings to ensure the appropriate programming for each respective group while the massing of the building ensures better connections to the neighborhood on four sides.
Formal, monumental, and rendered in a glazed fluted white terracotta tile the façade speaks to a history of New England public buildings, whose civic presence is defined by Greek Revival traditions. The unrolling of the Doric column, for one, plays a tribute to its antecedent while producing a thin, undulating rain-screen system.
Project location: Dorchester, Massachusetts
Firm name: NADAAA
Completion: 2021
Client: Boston Public Facilities Department
Jury comments: The jury appreciated how the different areas are unique and not the same all around. One can witness the performance of the building, this is something that is visibly seen. The recessed wood carvings were great in the children’s space and were a great discovery to the jury as well! This building has a great “third space” feeling and felt more like a true library.
Construction Manager: J&J Contractors MEP + FP Engineers: Garcia, Galuska, DeSousa Consulting Engineers, Inc. Structural: Souza True and Partners Civil Engineer: BSC Landscape: Ground, Inc. Lighting: Sladen Feinstein Envelope Consultant: GRLA Acoustical & AV Consultant: Acentech Code: Kevin Hastings
