facing a parking lot,” he says. “That’s functionally a good starting point.” The challenge came in laying out the library’s programmatic elements on a single massive floor covering 124,500 sf. “Libraries, when they get to be bigger than 40,000 sf, are separated onto two floors for good reason,” continues Poling. “When patrons arrive, they expect to get to the area they want to use without walking 100 yards.” To get around this problem, MS&R — the library consultant for local firm Boultinghouse Simpson Gates Architects (BSG) — located the circulation desk near the center of the floorplate and arranged the remainder of the programmatic elements in surrounding quadrants. This minimizes the distance any visitor has to walk to check out a book or ask the staff for help. To delineate this plan, the firm hung a strip of perforated wooden ceiling above the east-to-west axis, which runs above a walkway from the entrance, to the circulation desk, and then into the back of the library. The
The challenge came in laying out the library’s programmatic elements on a single massive floor covering 124,500 sf. north-to-south axis is demarcated with a meandering orange wall that houses support functions, such as group study rooms. Within that basic structure, MS&R laid out the rest of the library’s sections based upon how important it was for them to be beside the entrance. For example, the firm placed the children’s section toward the front of the building, immediately to the left of the door. “You want to get children in as quickly as you can,” says Poling. On the right side of the entrance, the architects placed the computer lab and public meeting room, as both will remain open after the rest of the library closes. An auditorium is tucked into the far corner next to the meeting room. That left the adult section and staff offices, which are located in the back left and right quadrants respectively.
Above The
children’s area is immediately adjacent to the entrance. Right A large porte cochere, a water feature, and a landscaped seating area transformed the former Walmart parking lot into a public plaza.
Throughout the cavernous space,
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FLOOR PLAN PERFORATED WOOD CEILING 1 ENTRY 2 CHILDREN 3 TEENS 4 ADULTS 5 COMPUTERS 6 MEETING SPACE 7 STAFF 8 SERVICE 9 AUDITORIUM
which was painted a neutral white, the architects used color and pattern to orient visitors, aid in wayfinding, and create more intimate areas. Large colorful pendants hang down from the ceiling calling out where to go to find fiction, non-fiction, large-print books, etc., while color blocks in the carpet indicate pathways through the stacks. Outside, the formidable big box received a facelift as well. “The city of McAllen didn’t want the library to look like a Walmart,” says Robert Simpson, a principal at BSG. This meant breaking up the long, flat front. To accomplish this, BSG added a taller section to the middle of the facade and cut out floor-to-ceiling swatches of the CMU wall, replacing them with glass window walls. The architects also added a monumentally sized, 20-ft-high porte cochere supported by cast-in-place concrete sections with semi-circular cutouts. This outsized portico links to a landscaped plaza in the middle of the parking lot with a water feature and vegetated berms. Initially, the city elected to plant Texas Sabal Palm Trees in the plaza, but half of them died during the drought. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, however, as the city opted to replace the dead palms with live oaks. “The trees need time to mature,” says Simpson, “but they will make it a much more appropriately shady space.”
3/4 2013
Texas Architect 55