“With its saw-tooth roof, the new building...looks modern and distinctive,” she continued. “But look south on Broad Street toward the old house gables in the nearby residential area and you can see the geometric patterns from the old homes have been repeated in the new building.”
Planning for the future was a top priority for library officials.
With keen insight, the eclectic group of library, interior design and architectural visionaries considered the “possibility that computers would be used in the future...,” and designed a structure that could accommodate such high-tech advances.
Their intuitive planning called for a large “community room” for public programs and meetings as well as “conference rooms for smaller groups...”
Simultaneously, the “human” factor desired by Librarian Doug Bean materialized in “the selection and design of the furnishings,” Jones reported. They included “rounded edges for durability, upholstered furniture for ‘home-like comfort’ and ‘touches of wood’ for “additional warmth...”
Upon its completion David Michaels, an interior designer from Alexandria, Virginia, offered his imprimatur : “It’s a welcoming building. It would be a failure if people didn’t want to come here and didn’t feel comfortable coming even in blue jeans.”
Today, as one component in the multi-branch MidPointe Library System, the Broad Street building continues to serve its patrons by offering:
