Durango Public Library
Durango, Colorado
Hudson Public Library
Hudson, Colorado
Kroc Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska
Larkspur Community Center
Bend, Oregon
LINC
Greeley, Colorado
Located on the block of 6th Street and 8th Avenue of downtown Greeley, the LINC Library Innovation Center extends the downtown and becomes a hub of activity for the High Plains Library District. In keeping with the theme of confluence and the importance of water in the region, the exterior perforated metal screen is inspired by the Northern Colorado watershed.
Before: The Greeley Tribune building from the South East elevation
After: LINC from the South East elevation
Named after the newspaper publisher and co-founder of the Union Colony, Horace Greeley, the Greeley Tribune building was built in 1986. Custom built for their needs as their second newspaper headquarters, totaling 42,000 square feet, it housed offices, journalists, printing presses, and distribution.
To mimic the Northern Colorado watershed, a metal façade was crafted to match the confluence of the South Platte and Cache La Poudre Rivers. With the knock-out elements in the metal creating a negative space, daylight casts the organic shapes and patterns of the river routes onto the interior space. At night, the panel is backlit to showcase the façade to the passing public.
Through a people-inspired process the themes of transformation, confluence, and discovery shaped our design thought. Inspired by the nearby intersection of the Cache la Poudre River and the South Platte River, the lobby represents the confluence as the meeting point between the library, the innovation hall, and the children’s museum while figuratively it represents the coming together of people and ideas in a new public building.
The book (and the topic) that inspired us
Confluence Lobby
“Thank you all for your brilliance, persistence, and dedication. LINC would not have happened without you.”
– Melissa Beavers, Library Manager
Confluence inspired the lobby circulation
A river of books flows through the stacks
Adaptive Reuse
A 22,000 square foot addition wraps the original building like a book jacket transforming it into a community center that includes a library, innovation center, events space with catering kitchen, makers space, arts & crafts room, video gaming room, AV room with recording studio, conference room, party room, and a children's museum with interactive playground. Floor plans show how a newspaper press becomes an innovation center, how packaging becomes the children's library, how the offices become the stacks for books, how the circular atrium of the Tribune becomes the inspiration for the courtyard, and how the children's museum will live on the second level.
Before
Addition
Courtyard
Design Threads
What could a library be?
Early concept
Bubble Diagram
Tribune floorplan
LINC floorplan
LINC mezzanine plan
The LINC sign is interactive sculpture
Lobby view from the top of the social stairs.
Main stacks with river of books around the courtyard
The circular courtyard
Innovation Hall
Woodworking Innovation Classroom
Children's Library with Hobbit Door
Storytime room with cloud ceiling
Children's Library
Lounge with see-through fireplace
Quiet reading room
Stacks connect to the events room
Children's museum
Art Installation at the children's museum
Innovation Transformation
The printing press space transformed into the innovation classrooms. The classrooms match the activities such as painting, weaving, and woodworking. The loudest activities are in the back of the building.
Site Transformation
Before: Greeley Tribune Loading Dock
After: LINC Children's Garden
Where Water Flows Uphill
Wes Bruce, an installation artist, designed a climbing maze to guide children from the lobby up to the second floor. On the second floor is an interactive indoor playground for kids and adults to explore. Inside the installation are playful round windows overlooking the lobby and children’s library.
Questions?
We will have an answer!
