Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center

Brooklyn, USA

Site Context

Photo © Michael Moran/OTTO

View of Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center at Dusk

Photo © Michael Moran/OTTO

Civic Space at Street-Level

Photo © Michael Moran/OTTO

Information Desk and Vertical Connections

Photo © Michael Moran/OTTO

Children's Reading Room

Photo © Michael Moran/OTTO

Second Level Arrival and Lounge

Photo © Michael Moran/OTTO

Second Level Connections

Photo © Michael Moran/OTTO

Glacial Outcroppings on Street-Level and Reading Nest with Mounded Shrub Thicket

Photo © Michael Moran/OTTO

Third Level Demonstration Garden

Photo © Michael Moran/OTTO

First Floor Plan

Drawing © Marble Fairbanks

Second Floor Plan

Drawing © Marble Fairbanks

Third Floor Plan

Drawing © Marble Fairbanks

Section Perspective

Visualization © Marble Fairbanks

Multi-Level Landscapes

Picture © Marble Fairbanks

Facade Materials Diagram

arkkitehdit: Marble Fairbanks

Location: 107 Norman Avenue, 11222 Brooklyn, USA
Year: 2020
Client: Brooklyn Public Library
Team: Karen Fairbanks, Scott Marble, Nicholas Desbiens, Jason Roberts, Peter Adams, Benjamin Hait, Keenan Korth, Lauren Espeseth, Spenser Krut, Tanya Gershon, Ravipa Ramyarupa, Atrianne Dolom
Landscape Architect: SCAPE / Landscape Architecture
MEP/FP Engineers & LEED: ads Engineers, PC
Structural Engineer: Robert Silman Associates
Civil/Geotechnical Engineer: Yu & Associates
IT & Security: Preda Consulting Engineer
AudioVisual: InToTo Professional Services, Inc
Wayfinding: MTWTF
Lighting: Tillotson Design Associates
Code Expeditor: JAM Code Consultants
General Contractor: Westerman Construction Co, Inc

The role of the branch library today is more than a repository of information – and while access to information and media of all sorts is still a critical part of what the branch libraries do, they also provide many related social services.

The new Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center replaces an existing building with a 15,000sf community hub for environmental awareness, activism and education. The Greenpoint Library doubles the size of the previous building, providing significantly enlarged indoor and outdoor spaces to house expanded activities related to the exploration of the environment as well as everyday library use. The primary program elements are adult, young adult, and children reading rooms and collection spaces, and community spaces for regular library programming as well as for the Environmental Education Center. Lab spaces for interactive projects, a large community event space (which divides into two of the lab spaces), a lounge, small meeting rooms, and staff spaces are distributed on the two main floors.

The new Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center provides street level exterior green space, clear visual connections to interior activities, and two accessible green roofs on the upper floors. The plaza design offers the public an engaging civic space that demonstrates sustainability and reinterprets the environmental history of the region. Primary exterior building materials include custom sandblasted wood panels on the upper level and custom cast concrete on the lower level. The building will exceed required LEED goals, becoming a demonstration project for innovative approaches to sustainable design and a learning tool for the community.