Visitors on a special tour on Tuesday get an early look at the northwest view from the fourth floor of the new Vancouver Community Library under construction downtown. A small atrium rises to the fifth floor. The $38 million facility is on track to open in mid-2011.Photo Gallery
As a youth, Adin Dunning spent hours inside a pair of Vancouver’s civic fixtures.
Now, he’s helping to replace one of them, designing an icon for generations to come.
Raised in Vancouver and Camas, Dunning swam regularly at the Marshall Community Center from age 8 to 13. Often, his family would pause at the current Vancouver Community Library, one long block away.
“Then, it was Burgerville and home,” Dunning said, smiling at the memory on Tuesday.
As an architect heading up the new Vancouver Community Library project, the 1993 Camas High School graduate savors the chance to construct a local landmark.
As a youth, Adin Dunning spent hours inside a pair of Vancouver's civic fixtures.
Now, he's helping to replace one of them, designing an icon for generations to come.
Raised in Vancouver and Camas, Dunning swam regularly at the Marshall Community Center from age 8 to 13. Often, his family would pause at the current Vancouver Community Library, one long block away.
"Then, it was Burgerville and home," Dunning said, smiling at the memory on Tuesday.
As an architect heading up the new Vancouver Community Library project, the 1993 Camas High School graduate savors the chance to construct a local landmark.
"It's incredible, for the opportunity to come back and do a part of Vancouver -- see the growing up, the maturity" of the city, Dunning said.
Dunning, 35, studied architecture at Washington State University (Pullman) and now lives on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle.
-- Howard Buck
“It’s incredible, for the opportunity to come back and do a part of Vancouver — see the growing up, the maturity” of the city, Dunning said.
Dunning, 35, studied architecture at Washington State University (Pullman) and now lives on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle.
— Howard Buck
o The new building has about 83,000 square feet, nearly double the floor space of the current version. General contractor for the project is Howard S. Wright Constructors.
o About that parking: A paved surface lot should hold about 75 vehicles; another 25 free (two-hour) parking spots will be available on West Reserve Street, just east of the library.
At some point, Killian Pacific is to build a 600-space underground parking garage, of which the library will have 200 free spaces — linked by elevator outside the main entrance.
o Despite several spectacular touches, the library remains on-budget at about $38 million (including an anonymous, $5 million donation). There has been “value engineering” to shave costs: Gone is a partial basement level, and a large LED digital facade on the C Street side to relay messages — but there will be space to hang conventional banners.
Meanwhile, an automated material handler system (a sorter) was among a few items dropped, then re-added when lower-than-expected construction bids were awarded.
“We hit the market at the right time. It’s a good time to be building,” project architect Adin Dunning said.
o The new building has about 83,000 square feet, nearly double the floor space of the current version. General contractor for the project is Howard S. Wright Constructors.
o About that parking: A paved surface lot should hold about 75 vehicles; another 25 free (two-hour) parking spots will be available on West Reserve Street, just east of the library.
At some point, Killian Pacific is to build a 600-space underground parking garage, of which the library will have 200 free spaces -- linked by elevator outside the main entrance.
o Despite several spectacular touches, the library remains on-budget at about $38 million (including an anonymous, $5 million donation). There has been "value engineering" to shave costs: Gone is a partial basement level, and a large LED digital facade on the C Street side to relay messages -- but there will be space to hang conventional banners.
Meanwhile, an automated material handler system (a sorter) was among a few items dropped, then re-added when lower-than-expected construction bids were awarded.
"We hit the market at the right time. It's a good time to be building," project architect Adin Dunning said.
o Construction bond measure money will fully outfit the library with public computer terminals and technology, said Bruce Ziegman, Fort Vancouver Regional Library District executive director.
But stocking new books to build a lagging supply will depend on voters approving a property tax levy increase on the Aug. 17 ballot, he said.
-- Howard Buck
o Construction bond measure money will fully outfit the library with public computer terminals and technology, said Bruce Ziegman, Fort Vancouver Regional Library District executive director.
But stocking new books to build a lagging supply will depend on voters approving a property tax levy increase on the Aug. 17 ballot, he said.
— Howard Buck
The new Vancouver Community Library rising at the corner of East Evergreen Boulevard and C Street is meant to be an open book.
Thus, the glass skin that reaches five stories tall, soon to be dressed up with a pinkish-red, terra cotta trim.
It’s all about transparency: Book stacks, comfy reading chairs and a special children’s area will be plainly visible to passersby to broadcast the building’s purpose, said Bruce Ziegman, executive director of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District.
The glass also lets in ample natural light sure to please visitors and actually will help, not hinder, energy efficiency.
“It’s not opulent,” Ziegman said on Tuesday, as he and project managers led the first media-VIP tour of the $38 million building, still on budget and on schedule.
With expected savings on lighting, heating and cooling, the library stands to earn LEED energy conservation gold certification when it opens in about 12 months, in mid-2011.
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Which isn’t to downplay a tremendous sense of pride from all parties involved.
That was the sentiment of volunteers who pushed ideas and inspiration during pre-design meetings held after FVRL voters approved a $43 million construction bond issue in September 2006 (it also paid for the recently opened Cascade Park Community Library).
“Our hope and our expectation is, at least for some time, this will be the premier public spot in the city,” Ziegman said.
Given the early glimpse, there should be plenty to “wow” guests of all ages and types — starting with the main entrance at the building’s southwest corner, near C Street.
Upon entering, patrons will gaze up at a three-story atrium while they pass under a display of thoughtful words, such as “dream,” “discover,” “question,” “search” and “find.”
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It stands to be an impressive sight for years to come.
“A library should encourage a sense of discovery, delight. It’s not just a warehouse for books,” said Craig Curtis, a partner at Miller/Hull Partnership, Seattle-based architect firm for the project. “It’s someplace you’ll want to come back to.”
On the ground floor will be a 140-seat community meeting room with software and video hookups for any public function. A coffee stand will help brighten the usual library lobby trimmings.
One flight up will be staff offices, plus automated material handler equipment (a sorter) on display just above Evergreen Boulevard — same as the big machine inside the Cascade Park library.
Children’s center
The really good stuff starts on the third floor: The focus is on families and children, from an international section to separate teen and story time areas, and finally, to a 3,000 square-foot Early Childhood Learning hub at the west end that Ziegman predicts will become the library’s hallmark.
Below artistic lighting will be acoustical clouds to cut noise; plenty of tactile materials and toys for “small motor” (muscle) exercise; multiple reading cubbies for children to curl up with a parent; and research materials for adults.
“It’s going to look partly like a children’s museum, partly like a children’s library and partly like a research center for parents,” he said. “The whole point of this is for parents to learn how to teach their children, which is not intuitive.”
Unencumbered adults will find plenty to like on floors four and five.
Nonfiction reading stacks (fourth floor) and fiction areas will intertwine with quiet reading/laptop areas, plus additional meeting rooms, relaxing chairs and a gas fireplace. All bathed in much daylight, thanks to 12½-foot- and 15-foot-high ceilings, respectively, and all that glass.
“It’s one advantage of a really narrow building,” Curtis said of the lighting.
Miller/Hull associate Adin Dunning, project manager on the Vancouver job, said vastly improved, efficient glass makes it possible: “Before, we couldn’t do this with a good conscience.”
Terrace view
A Clark County native, Dunning will incorporate lots of natural wood in the library — paneling, large doors, and some flooring — to ensure a “Pacific Northwest” feel, he said.
Better yet, patrons can step out of the fifth floor onto a south-facing roof terrace to experience the real thing: The library’s coup-de-grâce.
They’ll find a sweeping view of Mount Hood and Oregon’s Cascade Range mountains over the Vancouver Barracks, a slice of the Columbia River and Portland’s downtown office towers, as well as a good portion of central Vancouver. The terrace will be graced with many benches, shrubs and small trees.
Of course, the unimpeded view will last only as long as development firm Killian-Pacific waits for a better economy to build an office tower, condominium and hotel to fill out the previously announced Library Square complex where the Carr Auto Group dealership once stood.
Then again, a new Interstate 5 greenway “lid” to link downtown to the barracks (byproduct of a new Columbia River bridge) would hush the freeway noise and sweeten the experience.
Amid the embellishments, Karin Ford, librarian of the current, circa-1963 Vancouver Community Library a few blocks away, is eager to see all the blueprints come to fruition. She’s made several hard-hat tours before Tuesday’s event, which drew about 15 guests.
“It’s going to operate well, as a library,” Ford said. “It’s so wonderful to see the two-dimensional plans in three dimensions.”
