Williamsburg Library
Architectural Design
$750,000 Project, Completed 1986
Williamsburg, Ohio

The scope of the project was to design a new branch library for the City of Williamsburg Library System. The program was much the same as a typical branch library with book storage, offices and reading areas. The problem, as with all libraries, is to provide a bright environment but somehow protect the books from direct exposure to sunlight. The building was located on Main Street in Williamsburg surrounded by residential homes and directly across the street from the local high school.

A building was designed with the idea of the library as a type of sanctuary to read and research. The design of the building buffered the traffic of the Main Street, provided a raised center reading section with clerestory windows which allow a flood of natural light into the space. The side book storage areas were lowered and thus protected from direct sun. Glass block was used on the ends of the building diffusing light into the reading and book storage areas.

The main entry took the form of a simple rotated cube pinched by brick beams on the exterior and shooting through the glass block on the interior. The rotated cube marks the entry of the building and also makes a gesture to the high school across the street and a small bus stop designed for this project that was never realized at Main Street in Williamsburg. The grey tile on the cube helps distinguish it from the red brick beams.