Good Millwork: Library Renovation Design by Trahan Architects

New Library in Baton Rouge, LA to be center of human interaction — a space bringing people together for information dialogue and exchange.

Louisiana based Trahan Architects, a firm with expertise in institutional design and religious architecture (check the Holy Rosary Church Complex, remarkable project), recently unveiled conceptual design for the renovation and expansion of the River Center Branch Library.

The project stands at the intersection between civic buildings and the city’s arts and entertainment district, overlooking a new town square. This new building becomes an urban piece, exposing the interior activity to the outside with a rippled translucent skin. But also the library takes care of the exterior, with reading areas and a urban patio.

As with changes on how people consume information, the typical library approach as a storage/reading facility gets obsolete. In response to this, the project is a public place for gathering and sharing around information, with circulation patterns that place stationary structures in the center of the floors and create space for staff and patron interaction, with movable parts and multiple paths along the perimeter.

During these days, the changes of information through technology challenge library designs, while offering an opportunity to become important public spaces among our cities. In this way, I think this concept has a good start.

[via Arch Daily courtesy David Basulto, images courtesy Trahan Architects]