SALT LAKE CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY
Total Size: 228,000 square feet
Duration: 26 months
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Designed by world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie, this stunning structure incorporates a triangular-shaped main building, an adjacent rectangular administration building, a glass-enclosed Urban Room, and a public piazza. A curved, scaleable wall weaves the site together, while a magnificent stairway rises above the base-level shops and eateries to reveal a beautiful rooftop garden.
The adjoining piazza contains an amphitheater, a children’s garden, and a variety of local shops and services. Given Salt Lake’s high desert climate and temperature extremes, this outdoor space will also offer exposure to southern sunlight in winter, protection from unwanted winds in midseason, and a variety of mature trees for shade in the summer.
An iconic feature of the design is the sloping wall that originates at the site’s northwest corner and descends (as it curves) to mid-block point. The wall defines both the Urban Room and the piazza, and provides a connection to the existing library. To further animate the space, the wall is scaleable, thus affording visitors alternative access to the library’s rooftop garden. Multi-level reading areas along the transparent southern facade of the building provide dramatic views of the city and mountains, and overlook the piazza. At night, the glass facade (illuminated from within) shimmers in a crescent-shaped reflecting pool.
The library is recipient of the following awards:
2006 Library Journal, Library of the Year
2005 AIA/ALA Library Buildings Award Outstanding Design
2005 Salt Lake Design Awareness Foundation, Theresa Bradley Spirit Award for Professional Interior Design 2nd Place
2004 AIA , National Honor Award
2004 American Concrete Institute (ACI), Intermountain Chapter, Excellence in Concrete Award
2004 American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) - Utah Chapter , Engineering Excellence Grand Conceptor Award
2003 Intermountain Contractor , Best Utah Project of the Year
2003 Salt Lake Magazine, Best of the Beehive Award
2003 PCI (Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute), Best Public/Institutional Building Design Award
The adjoining piazza contains an amphitheater, a children’s garden, and a variety of local shops and services. Given Salt Lake’s high desert climate and temperature extremes, this outdoor space will also offer exposure to southern sunlight in winter, protection from unwanted winds in midseason, and a variety of mature trees for shade in the summer.
An iconic feature of the design is the sloping wall that originates at the site’s northwest corner and descends (as it curves) to mid-block point. The wall defines both the Urban Room and the piazza, and provides a connection to the existing library. To further animate the space, the wall is scaleable, thus affording visitors alternative access to the library’s rooftop garden. Multi-level reading areas along the transparent southern facade of the building provide dramatic views of the city and mountains, and overlook the piazza. At night, the glass facade (illuminated from within) shimmers in a crescent-shaped reflecting pool.
The library is recipient of the following awards:
2006 Library Journal, Library of the Year
2005 AIA/ALA Library Buildings Award Outstanding Design
2005 Salt Lake Design Awareness Foundation, Theresa Bradley Spirit Award for Professional Interior Design 2nd Place
2004 AIA , National Honor Award
2004 American Concrete Institute (ACI), Intermountain Chapter, Excellence in Concrete Award
2004 American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) - Utah Chapter , Engineering Excellence Grand Conceptor Award
2003 Intermountain Contractor , Best Utah Project of the Year
2003 Salt Lake Magazine, Best of the Beehive Award
2003 PCI (Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute), Best Public/Institutional Building Design Award