[Publib] Bad Architect tales - There are GOOD library architects too! !

[Paul Ericsson]

Hey Sue --

I love the topic of library building programs, and could probably 
talk about it for hours, but will resist. Lunch-time email chatter 
can only go for so long.   Serious - there are two points to this 
discussion thread that caught my attention:

1) Highlighting the lessons learned from the projects that went well 
(your question)
2) Lessons learned from the projects that did not go well (Su's posting)

To answer your question about POSITIVE experiences, I can easily 
think of three that are personal favorites of mine.  In the late 70's 
and early 80's, there were many public libraries in the cities and 
towns of southwestern Connecticut where I lived, that did building 
projects.  Some are known to have been horrendously bad, but the two 
that I think were examples of good projects, were Stratford Library 
Association, and Fairfield Public Library. Both were renovations.

I am most familiar with the Stratford project as I worked there 
during the renovation and the move back into the building.  When I 
was hired on staff the building design was already completed. But as 
a new supervisor I was encouraged by the Director to talk with staff, 
bring in my own experience from other jobs, and make recommendations 
for revisions to the plans.  The architects Galliher, Schoenhardt, 
and Baier of Simsbury, Connecticut were very responsive to our design 
changes, within the context of budget "change orders" and staff were 
pleased with the results.  That whole project, IMHO, was great 
because of what was accomplished, given the constraints of the 
original building and what realistically could be done with a 
renovation project.  Of course, renovations never are perfect, but if 
the city/town won't go for a new building, then there are good ways 
and then there are bad ways for architects to do a 
renovation.  Stratford's project is an example of a renovation that 
was done well.

The Bemidji (MN) Public Library where I now work seems to also be a 
project that was also done well.  It is 13 years since the new 
building project was done, and we are now ready for fine tuning of 
service desks, and relocating some collections based on new service 
patterns. We are going to combine this with a carpeting replacement 
project (while everything is pulled up). In terms of architects, the 
firm Architectural Resources, Inc. from Hibbing, MN has been 
responsive to my new questions about the original planning that was 
years before I came on staff.  Sure there are things we wish had been 
done differently, but large portions of that were not the 
architect.  Either service patterns have changed since 1994 (example 
public internet computer usage) or we've outgrown the building.  The 
latter was a known issue at the time but was more the result of 
funding constraints than anything the architects or building 
committee planned badly. It is my hope that in the near future we 
will be taking on a needs assessment, to determine what service areas 
we are not meeting in the community, and then figure out what will be 
changed in the building. Our small program room is an obvious 
example, but we want to be sure of the scope of programming that 
people need the library to do.

All building projects should first start with a needs 
assessment.  The design of the building should be a response to needs 
for services and functionality.  When a quality needs assessment is 
done first, then the building design can address the needs.  And I 
bet that most needs assessments will not call for the 3-story atriums 
that were cited in the "bad tales" below.

Thanks for the chat.

Paul

Paul Ericsson
Branch Manager, Bemidji Public Library
ericssonp at krls.org
218-751-3963


At 11:05 AM 11/15/2007, Sue Kamm wrote:
>I'd  be interested to hear any POSITIVE experiences with an architect :)
>
>The building I work with was designed by a well-known architecture 
>firm.  Some lowlights:
>
>*  The three-story atrium.  The lobby floor is tile.  The second and 
>third floors are open to the lobby.  Instant echo chamber.
>
>*  There is a light well running through all three floors within the 
>library itself.  Our little darlings think it's great fun to yell 
>for their friends on other floors.
>
>*  Because of the three-story open space in the lobby and above the 
>light well, if a light goes out the public facilites people have to 
>use scaffolding to chang them.
>
>
>
>Your friendly CyberGoddess and Councilor-at-large,
>Sue Kamm
>Inglewood/Los Angeles, CA
>Truest of the Blue, Los Angeles Dodgers Think Blue Week 2000
>Visit my blog:  http://suekamm.blogspot.com
>email:  suekamm [at] mindspring.com
>Baseball Is Life -- the rest is details
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