GVR Library Update, November 2009
By Quentin Rockwell
On November 6, 2007, Denver voters passed 9 ballot initiatives aimed at maintaining the City's critical infrastructure now and into the future. Issue 1C included funding to design and construct a new Green Valley Ranch Library, a branch of the DPL system.
The Library will be the first new facility designed to support DPL's innovative "Family Style" program, with an emphasis on bringing together children and parents to enjoy the library.
The Design Advisory Group - composed of City and Better Denver Bond Program staff, DPL staff, Humphries Poli Architects and other consultants - began meeting in the spring of 2009 to develop the design of the library. In March, the team met with the GVR community at the Green Valley Ranch Recreation Center. This community forum was fun and energetic, and allowed participants a chance to express the desired features of and services provided by their new library.
The overall form of the proposed design was derived On November 6, 2007, Denver voters passed 9 ballot initiatives aimed at maintaining the City's critical infrastructure now and into the future. Issue 1C included funding to design and construct a new Green Valley Ranch Library, a branch of the DPL system.
The Library will be the first new facility designed to support DPL's innovative "Family Style" program, with an emphasis on bringing together children and parents to enjoy the library.
The Design Advisory Group - composed of City and Better Denver Bond Program staff, DPL staff, Humphries Poli Architects and other consultants - began meeting in the spring of 2009 to develop the design of the library. In March, the team met with the GVR community at the Green Valley Ranch Recreation Center. This community forum was fun and energetic, and allowed participants a chance to express the desired features of and services provided by their new library.
The overall form of the proposed design was derived from community comments emphasizing the library's relation to the plains landscape and the airplanes of Denver International Airport. The resultant design celebrates the "i-Plains" and the "e-Planes" with an aerodynamic roof form, structural detailing derived from early aircraft design, and the long and linear shapes created by strip farming and other dry-land agricultural techniques.
The concept of the "i-Plains" and the "e-Planes" focuses on the connection between the green space of the "plains" to the south of the library and the library interior. This transition becomes blurred to create a library that programmatically takes advantage of the exterior space and its connectivity to the interior.
The 26,000 square foot facility is designed around the four wings or strips that organize the library. Each wing offers programs with different levels of activity that
distinguishes it from the neighboring spaces. The library will offer open, flexible interior spaces which combine adult's and children's collections around "discovery pods" designed for shared learning. Public access computers will include areas for shared computer use and parallel use by parents and children. A community lounge space will offer a quiet reading area with outdoor views, while a sub-dividable 100-seat community room and a smaller collaborative space will allow community gatherings of all sizes to find a place at the library.
Since March, the design team has evolved the design of the library to the point where it is nearly ready for bidding by contractors. Recently, the community was provided another update by the design team, which included detailed explanations of the interior and exterior spaces of the facility, as well as beautifully built models, complete with removable roofs.
Moving forward, the design team will complete the design documents, and the City will begin the contractor bidding process. Construction will likely begin in the first quarter of 2010, after which time the building will take about one year to construct and prepare for grand opening.
