This year's best library designs, from new construction to revitalized spaces

The five best examples of library projects from across the country have been honored as part of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and American Library Association (ALA) 2023 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards. “Award recipients must demonstrate design achievement, including a sense of place, purpose, ecology, environmental sustainability, and history,” the Institute shares. A seven-person jury panel was selected to choose designs that best exemplify these characteristics. Projects included in this year’s list run the gambit from new construction to revitalization and adaptive reuse. Minneapolis-based MSR Design was notable as the only practice to place two projects on this year's list. Woburn Public Library in Woburn, MACBTProject excerpt: "Adding an additional 30,500 square feet to the historic Woburn, Massachusetts, public library, this simple but elegant contemporary expansion enhances rather than competes with the original design. Designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in 1876, the library has long occupied an elevated site at the center of Woburn and has been widely celebrated for its architectural majesty. The new addition marries past and present to shape a 21st-century library ready to serve a growing community. At 17,400 square feet, the original library, despite several programmatic expansions throughout its 140-year history, could no longer accommodate Woburn’s needs. In 2014, after four rounds of applications across 20 years, the state’s board of library commissioners approved funding for an addition that would bring the library into the modern age."Atherton Library in Atherton, CAWRNS StudioRead the full post on Bustler