Five teams selected to participate in the Re-Envisioning Branch Libraries Design Study in New York

Although anyone with Internet access can do a quick search online, nothing replaces a brick-and-mortar public library for quality resources and info -- yet these centers are consistently overlooked by city policymakers.

After setting up an RFQ for the Re-Envisioning Branch Libraries Design Study in New York, the Architectural League and the Center for an Urban Future selected five interdisciplinary teams out of 45 submissions.

They are:

• Andrew Berman Architect | Library Development Solutions
 | Neil Donnelly | AEA Consulting | Auerbach Pollock Friedlander
• Marble Fairbanks with James Lima Planning + Development and Special Project Office
• MASS Design Group 
• SITU Studio
• UNION

The selection committee in choosing the five teams featured:

• Seema Agnani, Chhaya Community Development Corporation
• Sarah Goldhagen, The New Republic
• Shannon Mattern, The New School, Henry Myerberg, HMA2
• Lyn Rice, Rice+Lipka Architects
• members of The Architectural League and Center for an Urban Future project teams

The results of the study will present new architectural, financial, and programmatic innovations to support New York's three library branches.

Find out more below.

Andrew Berman Architect | Library Development Solutions | Neil Donnelly | AEA Consulting | Auerbach Pollock Friedlander 
Team is comprised of Andrew Berman, architect and principal of Andrew Berman Architect; Leslie Burger, director of Princeton Public Library and founder of Library Development Solutions; Neil Donnelly, graphic designer; Adrian and Elizabeth Ellis, cultural consultants and founders of AEA Consulting; Steven Friedlander, theater consultant, founder of Auerbach Pollock Friedlander.

Marble Fairbanks with James Lima Planning + Development and Special Project Office 
Team includes Scott Marble and Karen Fairbanks, architects and founding partners of Marble Fairbanks; James Lima, urban planner, real estate developer, and president of James Lima Planning + Development; Richard Tyson, design consultant and founding principal of Special Project Office; Leah Meisterlin, urbanist, architect, planner, educator, and a director of Special Project Office. 

MASS Design Group 
Team consists of Michael Murphy, architect and executive director of MASS Design Group; Michael Haggerty, urban planner and community service fellow at MASS Design Group; Chitra Aiyar, attorney and executive director of Sadie Nash Leadership Project; Phoebe Espirutu, design analyst, faculty member of the Flatiron School, and manager of the TechStars NYC HackStars; Daniel Hernandez, real estate developer, planner, and project manager.

SITU Studio 
Team includes Bradley Samuels, architect and founding partner of SITU Studio; Jessica Blaustein, designer, researcher, and director of The New Schoolʼs Urban Media Labs in the School of Media Studies; Jesse Keenan, research director for the Center for Urban Real Estate and professor of real estate development at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University; Rachel Meltzer, researcher and assistant professor of urban policy at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at The New School;  Christian Zabriskie and Lauren Comito, founders of Urban Librarians Unite.

UNION
Team is comprised of Adriel Mesznik, senior architect and urban designer at WXY; Ann Whiteside, Harvard Graduate School of Design librarian and assistant dean for information resources; Annie   Barrett, architect and principal of Annie Barrett Studio; Bryan Boyer, designer and principal of Dash Marshall; Ceren Bingol, senior architect at OMA; Helen Han, architect and filmmaker; Jane Lea, project architect at Architecture Research Office; Landon Brown, designer, researcher, and director of VisionArc.

"The design study will culminate with a public event this fall, featuring a presentation of the participantsʼ work and discussion with advocates and policymakers around issues drawn from the study.

In the upcoming months, The Architectural League will periodically release content on archleague.org and its online publication Urban Omnibus that explores different aspects of branch libraries, touching on the diverse architectural forms of this public building type as well as chronicling the array of resources and services branch libraries make available. The Center for an Urban Future will release a new report on librariesʼ capital needs and recommendations on how to address these needs later this July."