The Kew Gardens Hills Library has been in existence since 1966: throughout the years it has played the role of an important community center, and in terms of attendance and the number of books lent out, it occupied a leading position in the country. Therefore, the idea to completely reconstruct its building (in fact, to build a new one, since both the supporting structure and the interior have changed) aroused the concern of local residents, who did not hesitate to convey their thoughts and desires to the architects, who tried to take them into account.
The former library slightly receded from the sidewalk, now this space was occupied by a strip of rooms behind the glass facade. Its height and openness is controlled by a rising and falling black “ribbon” of custom glass fiber reinforced concrete panels that follows the outline of the roof. Its main peak marks the most "public" area, the second highest is the children's section, where the glazing is adjusted to the child's height. On the contrary, the tape protects the staff space and the drop-off point outside the library's opening hours, as does the teenage classroom.
The "tape" of the new facade / roof faces the interior with the surface of rough concrete; it also serves as a kind of beam supporting the green roof above it. She herself rests on only two columns. The total area of the library is 930 m2.
