Photos by Jane Ungaro Library Director Sarah Lester stands in front of one of the windows that look out onto Memorial Park. Architect Peter Coombe stands to the right.
MAPLEWOOD — The library is nearing completion and could be ready for visitors by the end of the year.
A tour of the very active construction site was given last week to members of the media by Library Director Sarah Lester, township Committee Member Vic DeLuca and the architects from Sage and Coombe.
The library is filled with thoughtful details and tremendous potential. It’s likely to be a popular amenity in a town where nearly 90 percent of residents have a library card.
“Libraries aren’t just a place to go and read a book,” said Architect Peter Coombe.
The building has 10 meeting rooms that can be reserved with a library card, a business center, a community room that can seat 140 or hold 200 standing, window benches in the children’s room that look out into the park, a local history room and a “forum” that has bleacher like seating for lectures or just hanging out.
“It’s an informal gallery space,” said Lester. “We can have lectures there or people can sit and do their work.”
Lester said there could also be music and she expects it will be popular with teens.
“We feel like teens will take it over during the day,” Sara said.
The seating in the forum faces the park, which is visible through a wall of windows. The renovated library has lots of windows, large and small. Where the bathrooms on the main floor were once located, there are now floor to ceiling windows looking into Memorial Park.
“We will really bring the park into the library,” said Jennifer Sage, one of the architects.
Among the thoughtful details; many of the windows open the way an open book looks and some have small figures on the glass representing the flora and fauna that can be found in the park. The figures are more than ornamental. They are placed a specific distance apart in a way that is said to keep birds from crashing into the windows.
“It’s about making sure we don’t damage our friends with wings,” Lester said.
The markings also contain a puzzle to be studied and deciphered.
There is an outdoor terrace on the top floor overlooking the park and a patio behind the building connecting the library to the park .
The patio was created with 800 bricks donated by patrons and it will have Adirondack chairs available to sit outside at the edge of the park. The Library Foundation is still looking for donations towards the chairs.
The previous iteration of the library had a community room but it was in the basement of the building. In this structure it is on the main floor and it will be able to open for events when the library is closed.
The traditional adult book shelf section of the library will have tables and chairs plus some “big comfortable chairs.” The book cases will be no more than four feet tall,
allowing patrons to look across the room.
A children’s program room is nearing competition.
“There will be window benches in the children’s room,” Sage said. “It will be really nice to have these seats in here.”
The library will also contain a Maker Space, which will have a 3D printer, a laser cutter, butcher block tables, and the ability to host classes.
Patrons will also be able to enter the library from the park as opposed to only the street side of the library as was the case in the past.
The street-side entrance to the library has been moved back to where it was in the original 1956 version of the library.
“We are now on grade,” Lester said. “Accessibility was a huge part of this. Everyone walks in the same way.”
The building is all electric and solar panels on the roof are expected to provide 55 percent of the energy needed to power the building.
Heating, HVAC equipment and other building essentials were moved from the basement of the old building to the roof of the new building. The library sits at the intersection of the Crooked Brook and the East Branch of the Rahway River and when Hurricane Ida came through in 2021 she left behind seven feet of water in the library basement.
“When we got flooded during Ida, we rethought the whole thing,” DeLuca said.
“It’s a much more resilient building now,” Coombes said.
The structure occupies the same footprint as the original, which was built in 1956, but it has ⅓ more space. Physical work began in August of 2022 but discussion about building a new library began 10 years ago.
The overall price tag is $23.5 million with $12 million coming from the town, $8 million from the state, $2 million from the library foundation and $1.3 million from FEMA.
“It’s a very detailed building,” DeLuca said.
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