Project Description
This branch library in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans was severely flooded by levee breaks attributed to Hurricane Katrina. This 10,000sf FEMA replacement project incorporates the complete restoration of an original 1917 historic residence – converting it into a neighborhood community center – and the construction of a replacement library wing designed so that the two buildings can function as a single unit or independent of one another for divergent uses.
A small glazed lobby provides a minimal link between the two buildings, and a transition between the architecture of old and new. The library’s program is organized around a captured courtyard which acts as a respite for users and provides natural light to the center of the building. Program components of reading, circulation, stacks and children’s room all pinwheel around this outdoor court. The wood glue lam structure, a nod to the heavy carpentry of the bungalow, is designed to reveal this pinwheel organization and helps define independent program uses as it rises in scale from the l