Library Buildings around the World

2006 AIA Portland Chapter Merit Award, a 2005 AIA Portland Chapter People’s Choice Award
The Hillsdale Branch Library is one of four new branch libraries that THA designed for Multnomah County. Located on the edge of
the commercial center for a residential community, the library’s cedar shell reflects the nearby wooden houses and clerestory
windows banding the top transform the building into a nighttime beacon. The main staircase leads from the corner entrance to the
reading room above, where colored glass panels lining the wall provide beautiful light patterns throughout the building. The reading
room is defined by alternating glass and wood walls, framing views out to the valley while forming bookcases to the interior. The
building’s sustainable design elements include natural daylighting, the use of materials with recycled content, native vegetation with
no installed irrigation and bioswales for stormwater management. (THA)
Library and Administrative Building 9 PCC, Rock Creek Campus, Portland, OR – USA 2004
THA was the architect for the expansion and renovation of Portland Community College’s Rock Creek Campus, adjacent to an
environmentally-sensitive Urban Growth Boundary. The project included two new buildings (Buildings 7 and 9) and renovations
and additions to existing Buildings 2,3 and 5, including a new entry plaza.
THA’s addition to Building 7, the science building, develops the west and south exterior elevations to present a welcoming public
image from the main student parking lot. The courtyard was re-landscaped and is now a more defined area for informal gatherings
and smaller campus events. The 34,000 sf expansion increases PCC’s Science and Technology Building to a total of 94,000 sf and
unites all of the college’s previously disparate science-based programs into one building.
In addition to Science Building 7, THA programmed and designed the Library & Administrative Building 9 and renovations to
Buildings 2, 3 and 5. Building 9 houses the campus library, campus bookstore, classrooms, the registrar, counseling offices, financial
aid, testing rooms, additional student services and administrative office space. Building 9 provides a dramatic and active presence
along the entry drive, heightening the visitor’s sense of arrival and creating an energized “front door” for the college. (THA)
Hollywood Branch Library and Bookmark Apartments, Multnomah County Library System, Portland,
OR – USA 2002
13,000 sf library, 44,000 sf housing
Recognizing and supporting goals for increasing density in Portland’s Hollywood neighborhood, Multnomah County viewed the
replacement of the existing Hollywood Branch Library as an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of mixed-use in-fill
development in a mature urban neighborhood that is well served by transit. THA designed a building that makes a civic statement
for the library and provides quality design and a unique identity for the mixed-income housing.
The building celebrates the history of the Hollywood District – a wall along the east side of the library reading room honors the work
of local children’s book writer Beverly Cleary. Responding to the unique characteristics of the Hollywood neighborhood, the colors
of the materials reinforce both the civic and residential scale of the building. The building is designed with a series of setbacks to ease
the transition from the single-family neighborhood to the higher-density commercial district.
The Hollywood Library received a 2002 Governor’s Livability Award, which recognizes exemplary projects that reinforce Oregon’s
quality of life and support its transportation and land use goals. It was also featured in Metropolis Magazine, praised for being “an
energy-efficient mixed-use library complex” and being “the latest in the region’s well-known and often pioneering efforts to prevent
sprawl and increase urban density.” (THA)
City of Beaverton Library, Beaverton, OR – USA 2000
69.000 sqf.
Awards:
AIA Portland Chapter Merit Award 2002
Wood Design Award 2002
AIA Portland Chapter People´s Choice Award 2001
The City of Beaverton´s goal was a library with a strong civic character that is the key element in a new urban center for the City.
The building´s position in the heart of Beaverton allows the library tobe an information resource center as well as a community
center. The library is designed around a significant public room constructred with graceful wooden columns arching upward into a
wooden web of roof framing, which invokes the town´s nickname of the “City of Trees”. The setting of this elevated rop-lit public
space is a new three-block park and parking area that is designed to accomodate a festive public market during warmer month.
(THA)
St. John´s Branch Library, Multnomah Country Library System, Portland, OR – USA 2000
The main effort for the renovation to the 1913 St. John’s Branch Library was to restore the entry columns’ original design, while a
tactful ADA ramp was added to provide patrons universal access. At the rear of the building, a simple administration annex was
added that complimented the design of the main structure. (THA)
Woodstock Branch Library, Multnomah County Library System, Portland, OR – USA 2000
7.500 sqf.
Awards:
American Institute of Steel Construction IDEAS Merit Award 2003
Chicago Anthenanem American Architecture Award 2002
AIA Regional Honor Award 2002
AIA American Library Association Award of Excellence 2001
AIA Portland Chapter Honor Award 2000
Portland General Electric EarthSmart Award 2000
Conceived as a light filled room for the community, the new Woodstock Library occupies a prominent commercial corner in this
southeast Portland neighborhood. The goal in designing this new 7.500 sf. Multnomah County branch was to create a feeling of
openness and availability: an airy pavilion where the focus is on books and people. The exposed steel structure of the room´s large
overhanging canopy is cantilevered out of the gound with intricate bundled columns that eliminate the need for supporting walls,
allowing an unusual transparency between inside and outside. (THA)
Belmont Branch Library, Multnomah County Library Ssystem, Portland, OR – USA 2000
The colonial style Belmont Branch Library was originally completed in 1924. The renovation involved expanding on the geometric
brick massing and sensibly responding to its historic nature. A 2,000 sf addition was added to provide an area for a meeting room
and to allow for a reconfiguration and expansion of the functional spaces. The interior finishes were upgraded in a manner fitting to
this historic building. Structural considerations included bringing the building up to current seismic compliance, as well as hazard
reduction on the original structure. (THA)
Penrose Memorial Library, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA – USA 2000
67.000 sqf. renovation, 24.000 sfq. addition
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