Architecture studio WORKac has completed the North Boulder Library in Colorado, USA, with an entry ramp running up its sloped form.
Sited between a series of apartment buildings, a creek and a neighbourhood of manufactured houses, the public library was designed to face in multiple directions, with diverse entryways and facades.
After a rigorous three-year community engagement process, WORKac came up with a scheme that would both fulfil the need for an iconic building as well as meeting the concerns of the locals – the preservation of mountain views and an after-hours programme open to the community.
“We wanted to create something that was both iconic and kind of very sustainable and playful,” said WORKac co-founder Amale Andraos.
The library slopes up to a middle point that aligns with a road, so that its wings dip down and preserve the views for the mid-rise residential buildings on either side of the road.
The side of the building that faces the mid-rises is clad partially in wood and has a ramp connected to a path from a more primary road that hems in the site from the west.
This ramp leads up to a community space on the top floor, where the after-hours centre and a centre for the local literary programme Boulder Reads has an outpost.
A sound installation by Montreal experience design studio Daily Tous Les Jour was installed and plays music as people move up the gently sloped ramp.
On the opposite side, composite aluminium panels clad the building, and a tower provides an entry and a balcony for the community center on top, equipped with a slide that twirls back to the ground level.
On the east side, a garage-style door was installed to create access to a makers space.
Inside, the library benefits from the window cut-outs that follow the various slopes cut out of the envelope and the angles of the building.
These library spaces are white-walled and have colourful flooring. The internal stairwell that leads up to the community space was wrapped in wallpaper that features a bright-green toilet printed with historical images taken from a local archive.
Boulder is known for its stringent environmental standards as well as for the Flatirons, a group of mountains in the foothills with sheer sides – both of which played into WORKac’s approach.
Although the original proposal saw a larger building with a green roof and three towers spread across the south facade, cost increase during the Covid-19 meant the size of the building was reduced and some of the more “experimental” sustainable features were cut.
After the value engineering, the building maintained its original shape, and a number of sustainable features including a solar array, aspects that were maintained in part because of the area’s green building standards.
WORKac said that while some of the details were cut, they managed to create an iconic building that serves that community and still feels playful.
“It looks the same – we just, we kind of cut a lot of details out,” WORKac co-founder Dan Wood told Dezeen.
Its grounds have a rainwater garden planted with native flora and an outdoor park is set to be installed nearby.
Other projects by the studio include a dramatic, jagged rooftop extension to a Manhattan building and a library in a historic building in DUMBO.
The photography is by Bruce Damonte.
Project credits:
Structural: StudioNYL
Facade: StudioNYL
MEP: Design Mechanical, INC
Electrical engineering: Matsuo
Engineering civil: JVA Consulting Engineers
Lighting: Tillotson Design Associates
Landscape: JB Fieldworks
Public art installation: Daily tous les jours
Graphic design: afreeman
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