How current and future trends are shaping the libraries of tomorrow
Over the last few years, public libraries have transitioned from being buildings that only store and lend books to being fully featured community centers.
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Over the last few years, public libraries have transitioned from being buildings that only store and lend books to being fully featured community centers.
One hundred forty years ago, Theodore Roosevelt had a vision that is being realized today. The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a cutting-edge example of what’s possible when all seven ambitions are pursued to the fullest from the beginning and integrated into the design at every phase and scale.
On July 4, 2026, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is scheduled to open on 93 acres in Medora, a town in North Dakota with under 130 permanent residents, but which nonetheless has become synonymous with the 26th President of the United States, who lived there for several years in the 1880s.
Gilbane Building Company, Skanska USA, Manhattan Construction, McCownGordon Construction, and C.W. Driver Companies top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest public library general contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Visitors are flocking to its brighter, connected halls, which now include retail and digital components.
Wired seating and group work areas abound.
The design comprises three buildings set in the public space of Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side.
Columbus Metropolitan Library, National Library of Latvia, and Varina Area Library were all honored by the AIA and ALA.
Libraries fulfill a new vision—community kitchens for experimentation with new ideas, problem solving and entrepreneurship, and creating experiences that turn consumers into producers, passions into careers, and voices into actions.
Great Halls, an auditorium, a fabrication lab, and a roof garden will all be added to the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe building.
The 110,000-sm library will be built in Pudong District and sit next to Century Park, Shanghai’s largest park.
The arrival of programs that support student and faculty success such as math emporiums, writing centers, academic enrichment programs, and excellence-in-teaching centers within the library, heralds the emergence of the third generation of academic library design.
Libraries are changing from dull book boxes into vibrant hubs for academic institutions. Sasaki surveyed more than 400 librarians to learn how library staffs interact with and respond to their workspaces.
With experience designing cultural and academic facilities, Williams and Tsien got the nod over other search finalists like Renzo Piano, SHoP, and Adjaye Associates.