Cincinnati Main Library Renovation
Additional Team:
- Group 4 Architecture, Research + Planning, Inc.
- David Schnee, Design Director
- Jill Eyres, Planning/Programming
- Daniel LaRossa, Project Designer
- Bryant Lui, Project Designer
- Champlin Architecture: Architect of Record
- MKSK: Landscape
- Turner Construction: General Contractors
- J Miles Wolf: Photography
- Wes Battoclette: Photography
Project Description
The renovation of the Cincinnati Main Library transforms a nearly 75-year-old structure into a welcoming, flagship destination adapted to the next 75 years of service. This generational investment reinvents the two-block long, seven-story library to provide vital downtown civic spaces.
Outside, the library features two lively, redesigned civic plazas that connect seamlessly to the central business district and adjacent neighborhoods. These highly flexible spaces can be utilized for events from mobile health clinics to community-wide art festivals and are dynamically illuminated by site-specific light sculptures.
Inside, library customers are empowered to reach their goals through an entry design that provides direct visual connections to a range of amenities, including the Cincinnati Storytime Center, children and teen areas, integrated collections, and divisible meeting rooms.
Linking these spaces together, the renovation’s centerpiece is a stunning atrium that integrates a new social stair. This musical stair improvises and winds upwards, delineating public space through dynamic custom art-glass guardrails. Illuminated by the skylight, these guardrails are composed of a printed acrylic interlayer cataloging 1,602 musical recordings color-coded to 31 musical genres that reflect Cincinnati’s cultural heritage.
This renovation marks a new chapter for the Main Library, ensuring its continued vital role within the community.