• Login / Join
  • About
  • •
  • Contact
  • •
  • Advertising
bustler logo
bustler logo
  • News
  • Competitions
  • Events
  • Bustler is powered by Archinect
  • Sign up for Bustler's Email Newsletters

  • Follow these Bustler feeds:

  • Search

    Search in

  • Submit

    What are you submitting?

    News Pitch
    Competition
    Event
  • Login / Join
  • News|Competitions|Events
  • Search
    | Submit
    | Follow
  • Search in

    What are you submitting?

    News Pitch
    Competition
    Event

    Follow these Bustler feeds:

  • About|Contact|Advertising
  • Login / Join

Winners of the 2021 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards

By Josh Niland|

Monday, May 17, 2021

Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library Renovation in Boston, MA by Utile, Inc. Photo: Anton Grassl Photography.

The American Institute of Architects, in conjunction with the American Library Association, recently revealed the five winners of this year's Library Building Awards.

Led by the new Valente Library in Cambridge, the quintet of honorees highlights a mix of both new building and renovation characterized by an incorporation of social practice that has dominated library building in recent years.

Valente Library in Cambridge, MA by William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc. Photo: Robert Benson Photography.

The William Rawn Associates-designed building opened in 2019 and features a bocce court and inviting glazed facade that anchors a crescent-shaped plaza in the heart of the city’s diverse Inman Square neighborhood. Its focus as a community center that provides on-site conference rooms, strong Wi-Fi, and expanded shelf space is made possible thanks to the new 10,000-square-foot branch, which is nearly twice the size of its predecessor. 

Arizona State Library Hayden Library Reinvention in Tempe, AZ by Ayers Saint Gross. Photo: Gabe Border.

Another Boston-area project is the 2020 renovation of the BPL’s Roxbury Branch location, previously occupied by a brutalist structure built in 1978 by local firm Kallmann and McKinnell, one of the firms that helped design Boston’s polarizing City Hall. 

Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library Renovation in Boston, MA by Utile, Inc. Photo: Anton Grassl Photography.

With a price tag of $14.7 Million, the new library reimagines the space as an accessible and engaging civic-oriented structure thanks in part to a 2013 programming study that guided Utile’s vision for the library, ultimately yielding a glass curtain wall, open staircase, and an improved signage and front entrance in step with Roxbury’s renamed Nubian Square neighborhood. 

Sunset Park Library in Brooklyn, NY by Leroy Street Studio Architecture. Photo: Halkin/Mason Photography.

Other winners of this year’s award include a “reinvention” of Arizona State’s original 1966 Hayden Library by Ayers Saint Gross, a mixed-use development in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood that brought together the city’s Housing Authority and Public Library entities for the first time with the help of SOM, and a new temporary home for the Sunset Park branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, which commissioned a Leroy Street Studio-led refurbishment of an unused courthouse building from 1931 to further aid in the progressive revitalization of the neighborhood plagued recently by gentrification and pandemic-related social issues. 

Taylor Street Apartments and Little Italy Branch Library in Chicago, IL by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Photo: Tom Harris.

Each building has to demonstrate a sense of “place, purpose, ecology, environmental sustainability, and of history,” according to the AIA website. 

The six-member jury panel will meet again next year to name winners of the competition’s fifth edition. 

RELATED NEWS Take a look at this year's best new libraries in Canada and the U.S.
RELATED NEWS Take a look at America's best new libraries

Related

aia ● library ● competition ● public library ● ala ● usa ● award
The American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects
William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.
William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.
Utile, Inc.
Utile, Inc.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) Hiring!
Leroy Street Studio
Leroy Street Studio Hiring!

Share

  • Follow

    0 Comments

  • Comment as :

Winners of the 2021 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards

New architecture and design competitions: The Architect's Chair, International Garden Festival, Rural Revitalization and Regeneration, and Innovative Furniture

Zaha Hadid Architects wins major China cultural district competition with large ‘feather’ roofs

Building Contemporary China examines three decades of architectural answers to the country's challenges

Lorcan O’Herlihy honored with the 2023 Maybeck Award by AIA California

Results of the Tiny Library 2023 Architecture Competition

The Urban Design Forum 2023 Forefront Fellows will explore design's relationship with social and political issues in New York City

The winning MICROHOME competition designs present innovative modular off-grid structures

Snøhetta among three winners of the 2023 Houen Fund Prize

Sign up for Bustler's Email Newsletters

Janet Echelman receives two international awards in recognition of her urban sculptures

New architecture and design competitions: Warming Huts, LIT Lighting Design Awards, LA+ EXOTIQUE, and Lyceum Fellowship Competition

Pratt reveals Kay WalkingStick, Kenneth Cobonpue, and Edward Mazria as Legends 2023 honorees

Materiality and social justice showcased in three public installations forming NYCxDESIGN’s 2023 Design Pavilion

Schmidt Hammer Lassen's rock formation-inspired design wins competition for new office building in Oslo

Innovative community centers shine in 2023 Concrete Masonry Student Competition

These are the 2023 Modernism in America Awards winners

Next page » Loading

Winners of the 2021 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards

By Josh Niland|

Monday, May 17, 2021

Share

Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library Renovation in Boston, MA by Utile, Inc. Photo: Anton Grassl Photography.

Related

aia ● library ● competition ● public library ● ala ● usa ● award
The American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects
William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.
William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.
Utile, Inc.
Utile, Inc.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) Hiring!
Leroy Street Studio
Leroy Street Studio Hiring!

The American Institute of Architects, in conjunction with the American Library Association, recently revealed the five winners of this year's Library Building Awards.

Led by the new Valente Library in Cambridge, the quintet of honorees highlights a mix of both new building and renovation characterized by an incorporation of social practice that has dominated library building in recent years.

Valente Library in Cambridge, MA by William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc. Photo: Robert Benson Photography.

The William Rawn Associates-designed building opened in 2019 and features a bocce court and inviting glazed facade that anchors a crescent-shaped plaza in the heart of the city’s diverse Inman Square neighborhood. Its focus as a community center that provides on-site conference rooms, strong Wi-Fi, and expanded shelf space is made possible thanks to the new 10,000-square-foot branch, which is nearly twice the size of its predecessor. 

Arizona State Library Hayden Library Reinvention in Tempe, AZ by Ayers Saint Gross. Photo: Gabe Border.

Another Boston-area project is the 2020 renovation of the BPL’s Roxbury Branch location, previously occupied by a brutalist structure built in 1978 by local firm Kallmann and McKinnell, one of the firms that helped design Boston’s polarizing City Hall. 

Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library Renovation in Boston, MA by Utile, Inc. Photo: Anton Grassl Photography.

With a price tag of $14.7 Million, the new library reimagines the space as an accessible and engaging civic-oriented structure thanks in part to a 2013 programming study that guided Utile’s vision for the library, ultimately yielding a glass curtain wall, open staircase, and an improved signage and front entrance in step with Roxbury’s renamed Nubian Square neighborhood. 

Sunset Park Library in Brooklyn, NY by Leroy Street Studio Architecture. Photo: Halkin/Mason Photography.

Other winners of this year’s award include a “reinvention” of Arizona State’s original 1966 Hayden Library by Ayers Saint Gross, a mixed-use development in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood that brought together the city’s Housing Authority and Public Library entities for the first time with the help of SOM, and a new temporary home for the Sunset Park branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, which commissioned a Leroy Street Studio-led refurbishment of an unused courthouse building from 1931 to further aid in the progressive revitalization of the neighborhood plagued recently by gentrification and pandemic-related social issues. 

Taylor Street Apartments and Little Italy Branch Library in Chicago, IL by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Photo: Tom Harris.

Each building has to demonstrate a sense of “place, purpose, ecology, environmental sustainability, and of history,” according to the AIA website. 

The six-member jury panel will meet again next year to name winners of the competition’s fifth edition. 

RELATED NEWS Take a look at this year's best new libraries in Canada and the U.S.
RELATED NEWS Take a look at America's best new libraries

Share

  • Follow

    0 Comments

  • Comment as :

Archinect JobsArchinect Jobs

The Archinect Job Board attracts the world's top architectural design talents.

VIEW ALL JOBS POST A JOB

Intermediate Architect/Designer

1100 Architect

Intermediate Architect/Designer

New York, NY, US

Senior Job Captain/Project Architect

RDC

Senior Job Captain/Project Architect

Reston, VA, US

Architect/Project Manager

Eigelberger Architecture + Design

Architect/Project Manager

Aspen, CO, US

Architectural Design Manager / Lighting Design

Castelli-Design

Architectural Design Manager / Lighting Design

New York, NY, US

Architect

Standard Architects

Architect

Long Island City, NY, US

Intermediate Architect/Designer

DXA Studio

Intermediate Architect/Designer

New York, NY, US

Designer Level II

OPEN OFFICE

Designer Level II

Los Angeles, CA, US

Healthcare Project Architect

EskewDumezRipple

Healthcare Project Architect

New Orleans, LA, US

Architect/Designer

Kovac Design Studio

Architect/Designer

Los Angeles, CA, US

Professional I Designer

TenBerke

Professional I Designer

New York, NY, US

Next page » Loading