skyway library
SKYWAY LIBRARY
Lot Size: 26,064 sf Building Size: 8,448 sf Location: Skyway, Washington Primary Project Type: Civic
Located in an unincorporated area between the cities of Seattle and Renton, Skyway is a working class suburban community that is under-served by public infrastructure and services. The neighborhood is home to large numbers of international immigrants, African Americans, Latinos, and others who have been displaced by or excluded from Seattle’s rapid redevelopment and expanding economy.
SKYWAY LIBRARY
The library occupies a prominent triangular site on a fast-moving thoroughfare, adjacent to storefront churches and small businesses. The project design includes a large plaza with public art, seating, and a grove of trees, providing a much-needed civic gathering space. The library building is raised several steps above the busy street, and layered plantings and trees filter sunlight and views along the library’s extensive window walls. Inside, the large reading room is open, flexible, and filled with daylight. A large circular skylight lined with color changing lights marks and enlivens the children’s area. The “living room” area has a twenty-foot high window wall that affords views of Mount Rainier and a communal study table made from a repurposed airplane wing that was sourced from the nearby Boeing surplus parts facility. In addition to collections for children, teens, and adults, the library offers patrons two dozen public computers, quiet study areas, and a large multi-use meeting room. The library’s sculptural form responds to the site’s unique geometry and to community members’ requests for an inspiring public space. The building’s entry porch is lined with reclaimed teak, and the carefully detailed aluminum skin wraps the building in shades of blue that resonate with and reflect the color of the sky at dusk and dawn. There has been very little public or private investment in Skyway during the past several decades, and this new library represents an important opportunity to support neighborhood residents of all ages and backgrounds. By offering expanded library services within a welcoming and generous civic place, the new Skyway Library is intended to be a catalyst for change in this community.
COMMUNITY CONTEXT The new library occupies the site of a former gas station, adjacent to low density auto-oriented retail at the center of the neighborhood’s business district. The project includes a new pedestrian plaza off of the main thoroughfare, while parking is accessed from a secondary street.
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50’
1. public plaza 2. “skystones” art installation 3. entry lobby 4. service desk 5. self-check 6. holds 7. fiction 8. teens 9. media/periodicals 10. computers 11. non-fiction 12. community living room 13. study room 14. children 15. multi-use room 16. storage 17. staff work room 18. staff break room
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CIVIC PRESENCE The library’s form and color were influenced by an extensive community outreach effort. The exterior metal panels mimic the scale of the human body and wrap the building in multiple shades of blue, which stand out during the day and blend into the color of the sky at twilight.
The triangular plan and sloping roofline reinforce the hierarchy of program areas inside. A special space is housed in each of the three corners of the library: entry lobby, meeting room, and community living room.
With all sides of the library in prominent view, the building has no secondary facades. To address this design challenge, the service entry and emergency exits are carved into recesses and turned out-of-plane so they are de-emphasized. A rooftop mechanical well and penthouse also conceal the HVAC system from view.
Facing the main intersection of Skyway, the community living room anchors the most prominent part of the site with a twenty-foot-high window wall providing transparency and views. An exterior sunshade and interior light-shelf combine to protect the southern exposure from glare.
The front porch is clad in reclaimed teak that compliments the blue and warms the entry. As a strategy to increase the apparent scale of this small library, the entry sequence is vertically compressed to provide a sense of expanse at the reading room threshold.
S K Y W A Y
Custom long-span trusses, circular skylights, and sound-absorbing fabric panels are integrated into the ceiling. Return air grills are hidden behind the wood slat wall covering. In an area where many homes do not have access to high-speed internet, the public computers are very heavily used.
The community living room features comfortable seating, controlled natural light and sound absorbing materials. A seventeen-foot-long airplane tail wing was locally salvaged and repurposed as an oversized shared study table.
A quiet study room cube is integrated with the window wall to provide acoustic privacy while retaining light and views.
The open children’s area has fun furniture, colorful carpet, specialty shelving, and an oversized skylight with colorchanging lights.
SKY SKYWAY LIBRARY 643
SKYWAY LIBRARY
SKYWAY LIBRARY
643
PATRON REGISTRATIONS
PATRON REGISTRATIONS
1,047
SKYWAY LIBRARY 643
PATRON REGISTRATI
+47%
+63%
+68%
CIRCULATION
NEW CARDHOLDERS
MEETING ROOM USE
PATRON REGISTRATIONS
Since opening in January 2016, Skyway Library has hosted voter registration drives, work parties, multi-lingual tax assistance, summer lunch and after school programming. The building has inspired a new logo for the Friends of Skyway Library, the community’s welcome sign, and the nail polish color of at least one patron.
PA
1,047
SKYWAY LIBRARY
COMMUNITY IMPACT
PATRON REGISTRATIONS
Lot Size: 26,064 sf Building Size: 8,448 sf Location: Skyway, Washington Primary Project Type: Civic
Located in an unincorporated area between the cities of Seattle and Renton, Skyway is a working class suburban community that is under-served by public infrastructure and services. The neighborhood is home to large numbers of international immigrants, African Americans, Latinos, and others who have been displaced by or excluded from Seattle’s rapid redevelopment and expanding economy.
SKYWAY LIBRARY
The library occupies a prominent triangular site on a fast-moving thoroughfare, adjacent to storefront churches and small businesses. The project design includes a large plaza with public art, seating, and a grove of trees, providing a much-needed civic gathering space. The library building is raised several steps above the busy street, and layered plantings and trees filter sunlight and views along the library’s extensive window walls. Inside, the large reading room is open, flexible, and filled with daylight. A large circular skylight lined with color changing lights marks and enlivens the children’s area. The “living room” area has a twenty-foot high window wall that affords views of Mount Rainier and a communal study table made from a repurposed airplane wing that was sourced from the nearby Boeing surplus parts facility. In addition to collections for children, teens, and adults, the library offers patrons two dozen public computers, quiet study areas, and a large multi-use meeting room. The library’s sculptural form responds to the site’s unique geometry and to community members’ requests for an inspiring public space. The building’s entry porch is lined with reclaimed teak, and the carefully detailed aluminum skin wraps the building in shades of blue that resonate with and reflect the color of the sky at dusk and dawn. There has been very little public or private investment in Skyway during the past several decades, and this new library represents an important opportunity to support neighborhood residents of all ages and backgrounds. By offering expanded library services within a welcoming and generous civic place, the new Skyway Library is intended to be a catalyst for change in this community.
COMMUNITY CONTEXT The new library occupies the site of a former gas station, adjacent to low density auto-oriented retail at the center of the neighborhood’s business district. The project includes a new pedestrian plaza off of the main thoroughfare, while parking is accessed from a secondary street.
0 5’
20’
50’
1. public plaza 2. “skystones” art installation 3. entry lobby 4. service desk 5. self-check 6. holds 7. fiction 8. teens 9. media/periodicals 10. computers 11. non-fiction 12. community living room 13. study room 14. children 15. multi-use room 16. storage 17. staff work room 18. staff break room
0’
20’
0 5’
5’
10’
50’
20’
0 5’ 15
16
14
13
18
17
4
10
11
12
1 3
2 5
7 6
8
9
20’
50’
CIVIC PRESENCE The library’s form and color were influenced by an extensive community outreach effort. The exterior metal panels mimic the scale of the human body and wrap the building in multiple shades of blue, which stand out during the day and blend into the color of the sky at twilight.
The triangular plan and sloping roofline reinforce the hierarchy of program areas inside. A special space is housed in each of the three corners of the library: entry lobby, meeting room, and community living room.
With all sides of the library in prominent view, the building has no secondary facades. To address this design challenge, the service entry and emergency exits are carved into recesses and turned out-of-plane so they are de-emphasized. A rooftop mechanical well and penthouse also conceal the HVAC system from view.
Facing the main intersection of Skyway, the community living room anchors the most prominent part of the site with a twenty-foot-high window wall providing transparency and views. An exterior sunshade and interior light-shelf combine to protect the southern exposure from glare.
The front porch is clad in reclaimed teak that compliments the blue and warms the entry. As a strategy to increase the apparent scale of this small library, the entry sequence is vertically compressed to provide a sense of expanse at the reading room threshold.
S K Y W A Y
Custom long-span trusses, circular skylights, and sound-absorbing fabric panels are integrated into the ceiling. Return air grills are hidden behind the wood slat wall covering. In an area where many homes do not have access to high-speed internet, the public computers are very heavily used.
The community living room features comfortable seating, controlled natural light and sound absorbing materials. A seventeen-foot-long airplane tail wing was locally salvaged and repurposed as an oversized shared study table.
A quiet study room cube is integrated with the window wall to provide acoustic privacy while retaining light and views.
The open children’s area has fun furniture, colorful carpet, specialty shelving, and an oversized skylight with colorchanging lights.
SKY SKYWAY LIBRARY 643
SKYWAY LIBRARY
SKYWAY LIBRARY
643
PATRON REGISTRATIONS
PATRON REGISTRATIONS
1,047
SKYWAY LIBRARY 643
PATRON REGISTRATI
+47%
+63%
+68%
CIRCULATION
NEW CARDHOLDERS
MEETING ROOM USE
PATRON REGISTRATIONS
Since opening in January 2016, Skyway Library has hosted voter registration drives, work parties, multi-lingual tax assistance, summer lunch and after school programming. The building has inspired a new logo for the Friends of Skyway Library, the community’s welcome sign, and the nail polish color of at least one patron.
PA
1,047
SKYWAY LIBRARY
COMMUNITY IMPACT
PATRON REGISTRATIONS
