qUEENs: ECLECTiC; ENERgETiC

Queens, New York, has a numerous collection of large and small libraries which sit quietly adjacent to busy bodegas and multi-use mid-rises. In an effort to both facilitate an increase in local visitors and to offer a new iconic building to the borough, one of these many public libraries will be the site of a new architectural design. This new library might not only be a location for knowledge and narrative, but also a catalyst for engagement with form and space.

I’LL Zig

As this project developed, the dynamic between intricate circulatory form and aesthetic structural elements became a critical catalyst for design interventions. From the exterior, the library approximates a “Z” shape from all four cardinal directions. This effect is derived from an array of exterior switchback, or “zigzag”, ramps. These ramps, and the sculpted, volumetric objects that adorn and support them at major nexuses of the paths, unify to create the secondary structural component for the library’s floor plates.