Winter Park books famed architect for library
WINTER PARK — Acclaimed architect David Adjaye, who designed the Smithsonian Institute’s $540 million National Museum of African American History and Culture, will soon begin work on a much smaller project: Winter Park’s new library and civic center.
Adjaye spent a whirlwind 24 hours this week meeting with city leaders and focus groups to gain insight into the city’s and library’s needs. He left his first trip to Winter Park with pages of ideas after getting a firsthand look at the site of the $30 million complex, expected to open by 2020.
“Whenever I hear of a library project, especially where people think I shouldn’t be, that’s probably where I’m going to be,” Adjaye said. “I love work-
ing in different communities and learning about different … geographies [and] different stories. Winter Park has a … unique narrative in Florida.”
Adjaye, recently knighted by English royalty and named one of TIME’s Most Influential People for 2017, was chosen for the job in tandem with local firm HuntonBrady Architects last year.
The 50,000-square-foot library will be built at the site of the current civic center in Martin Luther King Jr. Park. Plans also call for a new, 8,500-square-foot civic center and a 200-vehicle parking deck.
Design work will cost the city about $2.4 million, which is in line with typical architectural costs, City Manager Randy Knight said.
Adjaye, 50, is in the midst of projects on three continents. Much of his portfolio consists of culturally focused structures such as museums, libraries and academic buildings.
“To do public architecture is … the highest service one can make in my profession, so I’m really privileged that I’m able to do that,” said Adjaye, whose other prominent works include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management and the Cape Coast Slavery Museum in Ghana.
On Tuesday, he discussed with 200 residents at the current civic center the design elements of buildings similar to the library that he’s completed.
He explained how he uses nighttime emergency lights to make buildings glow as “soft beacons” and how he incorporated sweeping views of the National Mall into the African-American museum.
Adjaye said he wasn’t ready to discuss his vision for the Winter Park building. After his 20-minute presentation, however, residents crowded around circular tables to suggest amenities they hoped would be incorporated into the new space.
They asked for porches with open-air seating by the park’s lakefront, as well as powerful internet access and lush landscaping.
Others, such as 9-year-old Sienna Graffham, approached Adjaye for handshakes and photos.
Sienna wants to be an architect when she grows up. She uses the current library on New England Avenue several days a week with her mother, Suzanne.
They check out books and take arts and crafts classes, and Sienna said the new library could use additional quiet rooms for her to do her homework.
“We’re British, so we kind of hang onto him because he was knighted,” Suzanne Graffham said.
Adjaye lives in England but was born in Tanzania. He received his knighthood from the Duke of Cambridge at a ceremony in May, an experience he called “humbling and beautiful.”
Winter Park Mayor Steve Leary was traveling this week but said he looks forward to meeting with Adjaye in July and seeing through the library’s completion.
“This project sends a message that Winter Park believes comprehensive library projects, and other intelligent civic projects, are not expenses but rather investments in our future,” Leary said in an email.
A representative with HuntonBrady said Tuesday the city commission may be presented with renderings in late September, but it should take about a year to complete the final design.
Adjaye said libraries are important to him because they stimulate and “encourage inquiry and discovery.”
“A lot of people get focused on the library as just a home for books, but in the 21st century, what we know is it’s more than that,” Adjaye said. “It’s where young kids who become senators, politicians, maybe even presidents, go through. It’s a rite of passage in a community.”