Mid Manhatan Library
The New York Public Library
Mid Manhattan Library
Renovation and Expansion Project
New York, NY - 2003
Gwathmey Siegel Associates Architectsz
The Mid-Manhattan Library is the main circulating library in the New York Public Library system, currently serving 4,000 New Yorkers daily, with 40% coming from boroughs other than Manhat- tan. Presently, this facility is severely overcrowded, congested, and unable to fully meet the needs of New Yorkers for library informa- tion resources, particularly through information technology.
The proposed $120 million renovation and expansion project of the Mid-Manhattan Library will better meet the daily information needs of 8,000 New Yorkers on-site and thousands more electron- ically, creating a powerful catalyst for educational opportunity and economic growth.
The current Mid-Manhattan Library occupies a prime location on Fifth Avenue and 40th Street in the former Arnold Constable building which is owned by The New York Public Library. The ex- pansion will add an additional eight floors and 117,000 square feet for library service to the existing 139,000 square foot building, while creating a 20,000 square foot ground floor presence for rental to a prominent retailer.
The design maintains the existing building, with structural modi- fications, retaining the contextual/urban reference, while re-imag- ining the limestone frame as a base and screen for a new, iconic intervention. Using the existing side facades of adjacent taller build- ings on both Fifth Avenue and Fortieth Street, the addition acts as a counterpart to the original building; an articulate, glass sheathed, sculptural crystal volume that anchors the corner and establishes an extended and dynamic “place marker” for the New York Public Library/Bryant Park context.
The creation of a singular and memorable new object, as a counter- point, embodies the visual and psychological presence of the origi- nal Beaux Arts Building with a modern vision: “A Beacon of Knowl- edge”. The expanded Mid-Manhattan library will offer a massive presence of information technology including over 300 computers, 100 laptops, and broad access to hundreds of electronic databases and technology training programs combining computer literacy and library literacy.
