River Center Branch Library / Schwartz/Silver Architects + WHLC Architecture

River Center Branch Library / Schwartz/Silver Architects + WHLC Architecture

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Text description provided by the architects. The River Center Branch is a technology-rich downtown public library that celebrates its distinctive regional climate, proximity to the Mississippi River, and the unique local community.

Downtown Baton Rouge has recently seen an economic revival, yet forty percent of the city’s residents still live at or below the poverty line. With the Library following a pay-as-you-go strategy, fiscal responsibility was a major project driver, and the design and budget required comprehensive public vetting and full community support. The program was developed with an emphasis on technology, the broadest possible service menu, and the goal of providing facilities that would allow teens and adults to use the library to explore new interests and access information and training in ways that could help set them up for success.

After considerable public debate, the city decided to locate the new Library downtown rather than at a suburban site. There, it reinforces recent urban revitalization and allows for access to public transportation and connections to other civic institutions including the local arts community, nonprofit research, educational institutions, and government. The new library building covers the entire site area, locating public green space on the roof.

The library’s cantilevered form is a response to both the program and the local climate. There was a strong desire to provide children with their own dedicated floor for safety reasons, but the program area for this age group was a relatively small part of the total building area. By stacking children’s services above high-use browsing and public computer areas on the street level, upper floors would need to be larger. This creates a form that not only provides much-needed weather protection off the street without an additional tacked-on canopy but also a large platform for a roof terrace. This terrace wraps nearly the entire fourth floor and is one of the few publicly accessible outdoor spaces in the city with views of the Mississippi over the levee.

The library’s façades are carefully tuned to each solar exposure. The largest windows face north, while smaller windows on the east, south, and west are shielded by angled perforated aluminum sunscreens. At the roof terrace, horizontal louvered sunshades provide relief from the hot sun, and native plants provide natural cooling. Inside, large murals of the Mississippi’s historic “meanders” shows how the ecology of the region has been modified before the river was tamed into its permanent course. The playful colors and patterns of the interiors were inspired by the city’s love affair with jazz.

The library was designed to be a community shelter during hurricanes and major storms, and, although it opened in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has already become Baton Rouge’s “living room”: a place for connection and collaboration for the community to learn, connect and explore. The new facility provides opportunities and engagement for all, meeting its users wherever they are in life, with the flexibility to serve the unique needs of the community for decades to come.