It’s enough to make Friends of the Guelph Public Library cry in their beer. Three of the top four national 2011 Design Exchange Award winners for architecture (commercial) are libraries.
Traipsing around Toronto last weekend, we dropped into the Design Exchange, a centre and museum in the heart of the financial district. It promotes “greater awareness of design as well as the indispensable role it plays in fostering economic growth and cultural vitality.”
All three libraries are striking in their own way, and each one is a considerable source of civic pride. All I could think of was local library lovers and how envious they would be of these award-winning structures. As Friends of the Guelph Public Library will attest, it woulda, coulda, shoulda have been in Guelph. It may still be . . . one of these years.
Gold went to Bibliothèque Raymond-Levésque in St. Hubert, PQ. Silver went to Surrey City Centre Library in Surrey, B.C., and an honourable mention went to Hamilton Central Library and Farmers’ Market in Hamilton, Ont.
St. Hubert’s library cost $14 million. Notes the catalogue of winners: “The library acts simultaneously as a gateway pavilion, an institutional building and a cultural centre. Demonstrating that good design thinking really works, the library’s attendance has increased 75% over its predecessor.”
Surrey’s library rang in at a hefty $35 million. Part of downtown redevelopment, “the building design evolved out of the need to provide space for reading, studying, and above all gathering as a community. This building in its flexibility will accommodate all of these purposes, but will do so in ways that will intrigue and entice the users through the building.” For that kind of coin I would hope so, and it is a stunning edifice.
Hamilton’s library/market combo cost $16 million and was a major renovation with new additions. Not as snazzy as the other two libraries, “the project aspires to rejuvenate the existing facility and reconnect these two uses,” the catalogue said. “Usership is up 20% after remaining flat for more than 10 years.”
Said Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts: “Our new City Centre Library will be an iconic landmark for downtown and a great public space for the community to gather. It will attract visitors from all parts of the region and help us continue to redefine our city and create a downtown core that is dynamic and unique.”
I write this not to pour salt on the wounds of Friends of the Public Library. It’s merely ammo and an affirmation of what new library supporters already know and are striving towards.
It will happen. The sooner the better, of course, but it will happen. And, maybe one day, it will be nominated for a design exchange award, adding even more to the civic pride a new main library would bring.
[...] Libraries in the winner’s circle If you were wondering what the three libraries Editor Chris Clark from the Tribune was talking about today. Check out http://www.guelphtribune.ca/opinion/libraries-in-winners-circle/ [...]
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