Inviting Library Design in Canada by Hughes Condon Marler Architects

Hughes Condon Marler Architects have designed an imposing library in Whistler, BC, Canada. A project that has a lot to offer, both in terms of knowledge and architecture, the Whistler public library is an energy efficient building, answering to its site challenges. Here is more from the architects: “The Whistler Public Library is a project that celebrates a community’s passion for the outdoors and the creative and intellectual pursuits of locals and visitors alike. From the project’s beginning, the 15,000 sq. ft. library aspired to connect the sense of imagination, contemplation and community found in the world of books with the inspiration created by the surrounding mountain tops and adjacent forest glades. The library’s L-shaped plan allows multiple connections to contrasting site conditions.

On the north side of the site is Village Park which contains a children’s reading circle, pedestrian walkways, biking/skiing greenways and a stream for stormwater management. Adjacent to the park, the elevations on the north and west of the library provide an expansive curtain wall glazing system that optimizes visual connections to Sprott Mountain in the distance and to Village Park in the foreground. To emphasize this relationship, the vertical window mullions are staggered randomly to abstract the rhythm of the tree trunks in the adjacent park and to draw the eye upward toward the views.”  Freshome readers, we hope we have stirred you reading appetite as well as your thirst for inviting public library design. (Photography by Martin Tessler )