Supporters of the proposed new downtown library unveiled a new design Tuesday morning for a 20 percent smaller and less expensive building.
Fundraisers for the $50 million project said the key now is to persuade Charleston leaders to ask city voters to approve a $10 million to $15 million bond issue.
In what Kanawha County Public Library Board President Mike Albert called an "evolution of the current design," a team of supporters showed Gazette editors plans for a two-story, 125,000-square-foot $26 million library.
The earlier library design, shown from the rear, had two wings linked by a tall atrium.
"We've made significant changes in it," Albert said. "This is the first public presentation of this."
Indeed, the library's Web site still showed drawings of the old design, and a model of that plan was sitting in the main branch Tuesday afternoon.
The older design called for a $30 million, three-story building of up to 150,000 square feet to be built diagonally across from the Clay Center at the corner of Lee Street and Leon Sullivan Way.
Gone now is the soaring three-story atrium that linked the two wings in the previous design, said architect Steve Branner, president of ZMM Inc.
"We took the two original wings and folded them together to help with circulation. It's more compact and we think responds more to the program. While the older plan was nice, it kind of took on a life of its own."
Albert cited changes in the energy market, rising construction costs, a delay in fundraising, maintenance costs and the influence of new library Director Alan Engelbert among the reasons to downsize the building.
No public space has been taken out, Albert and Engelbert said - mostly hallways (circulation space, in architectural lingo) and administrative space.
"What was lost was the two buildings connected by an atrium," Albert said. "The problem was it made a really long library - a lot of hallway."
Engelbert, who helped design a library in his previous job in Manitowoc, Wis., has been tweaking the design with ZMM.
"What we feel it will do is bring the services together," Engelbert said. "The busy active social things will be concentrated on the first floor, with only one entrance so security will be enhanced. The second floor will be more traditional - the reference department, the West Virginia room, a research function."
Supporters of the proposed new downtown library unveiled a new design Tuesday morning for a 20 percent smaller and less expensive building.
Fundraisers for the $50 million project said the key now is to persuade Charleston leaders to ask city voters to approve a $10 million to $15 million bond issue.
In what Kanawha County Public Library Board President Mike Albert called an "evolution of the current design," a team of supporters showed Gazette editors plans for a two-story, 125,000-square-foot $26 million library.
"We've made significant changes in it," Albert said. "This is the first public presentation of this."
Indeed, the library's Web site still showed drawings of the old design, and a model of that plan was sitting in the main branch Tuesday afternoon.
The older design called for a $30 million, three-story building of up to 150,000 square feet to be built diagonally across from the Clay Center at the corner of Lee Street and Leon Sullivan Way.
Gone now is the soaring three-story atrium that linked the two wings in the previous design, said architect Steve Branner, president of ZMM Inc.
"We took the two original wings and folded them together to help with circulation. It's more compact and we think responds more to the program. While the older plan was nice, it kind of took on a life of its own."
Albert cited changes in the energy market, rising construction costs, a delay in fundraising, maintenance costs and the influence of new library Director Alan Engelbert among the reasons to downsize the building.
No public space has been taken out, Albert and Engelbert said - mostly hallways (circulation space, in architectural lingo) and administrative space.
"What was lost was the two buildings connected by an atrium," Albert said. "The problem was it made a really long library - a lot of hallway."
Engelbert, who helped design a library in his previous job in Manitowoc, Wis., has been tweaking the design with ZMM.
"What we feel it will do is bring the services together," Engelbert said. "The busy active social things will be concentrated on the first floor, with only one entrance so security will be enhanced. The second floor will be more traditional - the reference department, the West Virginia room, a research function."
By eliminating about 20,000 square feet of space, the architects hope to save about $4 million in construction costs.
Still, library leaders hope to raise the original goal of $50 million, half public and half private funds. Of that, $10 million is for targeted land acquisition, $30 million to build the downtown library and $10 million for improvements to other county libraries.
Three of 17 pieces of property for the downtown site have been acquired, Albert said. Owners aren't selling easily, he indicated. "We haven't convinced any to give us their property."
The Kanawha County Board of Education's extended squabble about library funding hasn't exactly helped fundraising, said Tom Heywood, chairman of the library foundation board. "It was a very common first question."
But the issue also rallied people around the libraries, he said. "Now I rarely hear it. I think people are confident libraries will continue to be funded.
"We have raised $16 million privately. We have lots of asks out there. We have $1 million from the county, and the [old] building, so close to $20 million. Privately, the building essentially sells itself.
"Then the public piece. That's been a bigger challenge. We're talking with the city."
Albert and Heywood said a bond issue is the most likely source of public money, but noted the city has other budget priorities.
"If we can convince the city, we can get them on board for $10 [million], $15 million," Albert said. "I think this will be one of the crown jewels of the city. I think the city should put it fairly high in its priorities.
"When we started this project, we felt the difficulty would be raising the private money," Albert said. "We've been bowled over by the response.
"We had hoped we'd convince the city, county and state to provide public money. Now we're getting questions: 'When is the public money coming in?' We'd like the city to come forward."
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Posted By: Dangerous?(1:58pm 09-11-2008)
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wvescapee and others - Is this considered a dangerous part of town? Is anywhere in charleston considered dangerous? There are parts of the west side I wouldn't hang around in at night, but they are residential and I have no business being there anyway.
Charleston is a sleepy, quiet city with a practically non-existent violent crime rate. Get over your irrational fears. Get out of your houses and turn off the tv news, which magnifies every tiny incident to make it seem like we live in a combat zone. Its not true.
And I've seen a few weirdos in and around the library before but I've never been hassled or felt threatened in any way. They ar just people.
Posted By: f(7:56am 09-11-2008)
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J is a typical libral that feels SENSATIVE for every sorry case like the drunks that are in town! Homeless people are their for a reason. If they are mentally ill then they should be in a place to take care of them, not the library urinating on the multimillion dollar building. You must not have kids to worry about keeping safe from the drunks. I DO!
Posted By: WVescapee(7:57pm 09-10-2008)
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How many children will be able to walk or ride their bicycles to this proposed new library location? Will the elderly, many of whom no longer drive, be able to easily visit this library? Perhaps a more important question still: How will the safety of patrons be ensured in this section of town? Aside from finally having a building that is actually designed to serve as a library, there is very little advantage of this new proposal over the converted post office library that Charleston currently has.
Posted By: J(1:23pm 09-10-2008)
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No wonder this place is at the bottom of the pile in education. People even oppose building a library, fearing that homeless people might want to use it.
Guess what? They're just as entitled to be at the library as you are. Libraries are meant to facilitate a free and uncensored flow of information for all people.
The library building is too small. There's just not enough room to fit everything in there. It gets crowded. It's a good thing that the library is being used enough to need a new building. Regardless of people having computers at home, it's a nice, quiet place to bring your laptop and work or study. You can read the latest magazines for free. And lots of people still read and buy books. I use the Internet every day for work, but I still buy many books.
If you want to be against it, then at least find a valid reason, such as a preference for more smaller branch libraries than a big central one.
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Charleston is a sleepy, quiet city with a practically non-existent violent crime rate. Get over your irrational fears. Get out of your houses and turn off the tv news, which magnifies every tiny incident to make it seem like we live in a combat zone. Its not true.
And I've seen a few weirdos in and around the library before but I've never been hassled or felt threatened in any way. They ar just people.
Guess what? They're just as entitled to be at the library as you are. Libraries are meant to facilitate a free and uncensored flow of information for all people.
The library building is too small. There's just not enough room to fit everything in there. It gets crowded. It's a good thing that the library is being used enough to need a new building. Regardless of people having computers at home, it's a nice, quiet place to bring your laptop and work or study. You can read the latest magazines for free. And lots of people still read and buy books. I use the Internet every day for work, but I still buy many books.
If you want to be against it, then at least find a valid reason, such as a preference for more smaller branch libraries than a big central one.