Alternative names New Central Library Type Public library Estimated completion 2018 Floors 4 Cost 245 million USD Owner Calgary Public Library | Status Under construction Location Calgary, Alberta Floor count 4 Province Alberta Architecture firm Snøhetta Construction started 2013 | |
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Address 802 3 St SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0E7, Canada Similar Studio Bell - home of the Natio, St Patrick's Island Park, City Hall, Fort Calgary, The Bow | ||
The Calgary Central Library, also known as the Calgary New Central Library (NCL), is an under construction public library in Calgary, Alberta that will be part of the Calgary Public Library system when completed in 2018. The four-storey structure is being built in the Downtown East Village neighborhood and will include 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2) of space. The $245 million library will replace the existing central branch in Downtown Calgary, built in 1963 and expanded in 1974.
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A combined bid from American-Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta and Canadian firm DIALOG won a design competition held for the project in 2013. Their design features an oval-like form and an interior with a large central atrium with a skylight. The building is elevated one floor above street level to accommodate a light rail trackway below as well as a public plaza.
Planning for a new library began in 2004 and was finalized in 2011. Construction began in 2013 with the encapsulation of an existing CTrain light rail tunnel portal; above-ground construction of the library itself began in September 2015.
Location
The Central Library will be located along 3rd Street SE between 7th and 9th avenues in the Downtown East Village neighborhood, adjacent to the Calgary Municipal Building. The CTrain City Hall station is located to the west of the library's northwest corner.
Planning and funding
Planning for a new central library branch in Downtown Calgary, to replace an older building used since 1964, began in 2004. The city of Calgary, working with the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, proposed a site adjacent to the city hall in the Downtown East Village neighborhood. The Calgary City Council approved the project in 2011, providing $40 million for its construction. Rejected sites included the current library in Downtown, the former headquarters of the Calgary Board of Education, the Olympic Plaza, and the former Telus World of Science centre in the Downtown West End.
Of the $245 million budgeted for the library project, $175 million was contributed by the city government and $70 million came from the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, a city-owned real estate developer. The largest private donation for the project, via the Calgary Public Library Foundation, was a $1.5 million contribution from Nexen, a Calgary-based oil company and subsidiary to the Chinese state-run CNOOC, for the naming rights to a high-tech learning centre.
Design and amenities
The library's design was unveiled to the public in September 2014 by architects Snøhetta and DIALOG, who won a design competition in 2013. The entire building is oval-shaped and is elevated one floor above street level to cover a CTrain light rail tunnel and an open plaza, included with the intention of connecting Downtown East Village to downtown. The entrance is framed by wood-clad arches inspired by the shape of arched clouds made by Chinook winds in Alberta. Landscaping around the library and adjoining plaza consists of terracing inspired by the foothills of the Canadian Rockies.
The exterior is wrapped in a textured façade, with translucent fritted glass panels used to shield private study areas and clear glass to make public areas viewable from the outside.
The 240,000-square-foot (22,000 m2) interior centres around a four-storey central atrium topped by a skylight. The lower floors contain the library's meeting spaces and activity centres, while the upper floors feature book stacks with space for 600,000 titles and a reading room. At street level, one floor below the main lobby, is a 340-seat theatre, conference rooms, and small café.
The entire library features several environmentally friendly features, such as triple-pane windows to save energy on climate control and finishings made of low volatile organic compound materials.
One notable absence from the new library is a connection to the +15 skybridge system that spans the central business district of Calgary, the nearest location of which is inside the Calgary Municipal Building. A connection was considered, but ultimately rejected because of conflicts with the city hall's hours of operation as well as low predicted traffic.
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi described the library as a "new icon for the city" at the public unveiling of the final design in 2014.
Public art for the library will be selected in 2017, with one percent of the project budget dedicated to public art.
Construction
The first stage of construction was the $25 million encapsulation of a 135-metre (443 ft) long section of light rail used by the CTrain Red Line, which emerges from a tunnel on the proposed site. The light rail encapsulation began in May 2014 and was completed in September 2015, allowing for vertical construction of the library to begin.
Construction of the library itself is expected to take 750 days and be completed in late 2018.