LIBRARY TURNS A PAGE
The exterior of the New Central Library is now more visible to the public, as construction progresses on the ahead-of schedule and under-budget facility that has been hailed for its design.
With the removal of a temporary structure intended to protect the CTrain tracks during construction of the New Central Library, Calgarians are finally getting a better look at one of the city’s most striking new buildings.
Construction of the $245-million facility is ahead of schedule and “comfortably” under budget, with thousands of pieces of furniture expected to be moved in by late summer, Postmedia learned during a special media preview ahead of the Nov. 1 opening.
The four-storey, light-filled, 240,000-square-foot building is being constructed atop an active train line — a first for Calgary downtown development and engineering.
“With the removal of the final temporary structure, you get an uninterrupted view of the train as it enters and exits the site, and a real appreciation for how the design of the building seamlessly envelops the LRT operation,” Michael Brown, president of Calgary Municipal Land Corp. (CMLC), said in a statement Wednesday.
The building’s architects — international firm Snøhetta and Calgary’s DIALOG — earned a spot on Architectural Digest’s 12 most anticipated buildings of the year with the East Village project.
And during Wednesday’s tour, it was clear some of the library’s key spaces are nearing completion: the cedar-clad archway that ushers people into the building from the east and west; a 340-seat theatre surrounded by glass and wood; and a cafe that looks down on where the LRT emerges from beneath the building.
Kate Thompson, CMLC’s project manager for the library, said her favourite spot is the main reception area with its clear view to the “oculus”-style skylight above.
“When you walk into the building and then you see all the way up — that’s the kind of ‘a-ha moment’ where everything kind of comes together,” Thompson said. “You can read the building (and) you can start seeing people on different (floors) and you want to go there. And that, for me, is what we’ve been working for all this time.”
Thompson said the project’s biggest challenge, building on top of the CTrain’s Red Line, became a source of inspiration.
“It’s really all driven by the LRT,” Thompson said. “The way the train rises and curves through the site dictated how the (building) curves, and what you see right now and what you experience in the building.”
“The train was a huge challenge for us to overcome and figure out, but it led to great design.”
The new library at 3rd Street and 7th Avenue S.E. will replace the boxlike concrete main branch along Macleod Trail.
The New Central Library will have a number of amenities that weren’t possible in the old location, including more than 30 community meeting spaces, dedicated space for teens with music and gaming stations, and a more formal Great Reading Room on the top floor.
The library’s cafe space, which will have direct access from the street, will be operated by two people well known in the local food scene: Gareth Lukes, owner of Luke’s Drug Mart in Bridgeland, and Eric Hendry, chef behind Bar Von Der Fels.