Project name: Boston Public Library – Roslindale Branch
Project overview: Roslindale is among the most diverse neighborhoods in Boston and the renovated library represents one of its most important community space at the heart of Roslindale Center. The completely renovated and reconfigured interior with strategic exterior interventions revives this vital place of community learning and gathering for the digital age.
Its design takes advantage of historical features such as the central dome with clerestory lighting, under which a new central point circulation desk provides easy access of staff for the library patrons. The message “reading is fun” is communicated to children with shelving in the shape of a “maze”, and a laptop reading bar along the perimeter provides connection with the town center.
A new entry that removes existing step and ramp provides universal access to all while a protective canopy and colorful terra-cotta baguettes, a metaphor for “books on shelves”, gives the library a new identity. Almost all of the existing structure and envelope was reused for a resourceful, low embodied carbon strategy, along with new efficient MEP systems and building insulation for low operational energy.
Project location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Firm name: Leers Weinzpfel Associates
Completion: 2022
Client: Boston Public Facilities Department and Boston Public Library
Jury comments: Anchored in its community and respectful of its existing form, the library thoughtfully balances continuity with openness, offering a welcoming space for residents while maintaining the familiar form of the building. The team’s care is evident in decisions that preserve knowability for users, from its dynamic façade to creating generous, flexible interior spaces. While the project’s transcendence may be subtle, it succeeds in delivering a human-centered design that honors the past, enriches everyday experience, and quietly elevates the role of the library in the neighborhood.
Structural Engineer: LeMessurier MEP/FP Engineer: BVH/Salas O’Brien Civil Engineer and Plant consulting: Green International Lighting designer: HLB Lighting Design Code: WB Engineering Hazmat: Fuss & O’Neill Landscape Design: Leers Weinzapfel Associates Interior Design and FFE: Leers Weinzapfel Associates General Contractor: Northern Contracting Corporation
