I
magine. That is the word, in bright mosaic colours, greeting patrons inside the north entrance of the newly renovated Stanley A. Milner Library—the Edmonton Public Library’s flagship branch. Located in the city’s downtown core, the building is a token of what a civic centre can become—a place for equity, inclusion and barrier-free access to knowledge, according to Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson who spoke at the opening on September 17. “Truly public spaces where everyone is welcome without barriers are getting rarer and rarer, but this city believes we need more of those spaces, not less,” he said. One of the library’s most celebrated new features is Thunderbird Lodge, an intricately-crafted Indigenous gather ing space designed in consultation with local communities and Cree elders Jo-Ann and Jerry Saddleback. As an act of reconciliation, it brings access to culture for indigenous cultural practices, while demystifying ceremony for all groups of city-dwellers. Stephen Teeple, of Teeple Architects who designed the library alongside Stantec, notes it was also built with its own special mechanical system to enable a true smudging space. “I think it’s the only space in Edmonton where smudging is built right into the space; you can literally smudge there anytime,” he says, adding that it’s also “acoustically amazing.” Another hard-to-miss feature is the Shelly Milner Children’s Library, November/December 2020 CFM&D 19
