Walker Library

[mullen]

looks great, all of that open space, windows and activity on that corner. such a marked turnaround from the previous corner presence.

[min-chi-cbus]

Call me a suburbanist loser, but I for one liked the concept of an underground library with a knoll on top to read and relax on. I wasn't too keen on the location (right in front of the busiest transit station in the metro at the 2nd most prominent corner in Uptown) but I liked the concept and would have liked to see something done that would have kept some of the original ideas in place.

If somebody came up with that project today it would be labeled a LEED Platinum masterpiece of sustainable urban design, but today it's garbage......I don't get it.

[Wedgeguy]

As one that was a regular user of that library, the concept of good, but the reality was lousy. IT was a very dark and foreboding place. 20% of the time the elevator to the library was out of service which is not good for ADA and older patrons. The lighting was 70's and was not very good at lighting up the place properly. The one group of windows overlooked a terrible sunken plaza that no one could get out to. Basically a lot of stone pebbles and weeds. The old Library was not set up for the electronic age. I could go on with a list, but you get my drift.

You will have a nice piece of land to the north of the building and at the end of the mall and Hennepin that you can layout if you want to in the sun. It was rare that there was ever anyone that was up on the green roof of the old library to sun themselves. The new library will have plenty of sun, being designed for the electronic age, most of all make you feel like you really want to spend some time in there.

The metal siding is done on the north side of the building, yesterday when I walked by they were working on the first floor siding on the backside, They were about half way finished as of 3:30 in the afternoon. I would expect that they are finished with the west side by Friday and then go to either the south or east side of the build to finish up. My bet is they start with the south end and finish with the front last, IMO.

[David Greene]

As one that was a regular user of that library, the concept of good, but the reality was lousy. IT was a very dark and foreboding place. 20% of the time the elevator to the library was out of service which is not good for ADA and older patrons. The lighting was 70's and was not very good at lighting up the place properly. The one group of windows overlooked a terrible sunken plaza that no one could get out to. Basically a lot of stone pebbles and weeds. The old Library was not set up for the electronic age. I could go on with a list, but you get my drift.

This is all exactly right. In addition, the building leaked and had issues with freezing water. It had to go for safety reasons if nothing else.

I haven't seen detailed plans for the interior. Are there community meeting rooms? Libraries are becoming community gathering spaces as much as if not more than traditional lending organizations. I do agree the lighting will be very nice. I just wish there were a bit more to this project because it is on a very prime corner lot.

[mullen]

appears there will be a couple of "multi-purpose" rooms.
http://www.hclib.org/pub/info/buildingp ... .22.12.pdf

[bubzki2]

Somehow this seems bigger when you see the floorplan they've proposed. I was going to comment on the paltry number of stacks, but really with loans and all that, I think it's really astute to keep books (on hand) to minimum as they are more seldom actually utilized anymore, thus making more space for other uses.

[John]

looks great, all of that open space, windows and activity on that corner. such a marked turnaround from the previous corner presence.

The previous building always reminded me of a bunker or bomb shelter, or as if it was attempting to hide or shelter itself from the community around it. The new library is the exact opposite in look and feel which is fantastic. I think the growing trend in our city of having buildings be more transparent and open is a positive sign of how mature Minneapolis urban culture is becoming.

[Wedgeguy]

The south end of the building fronting Hennepin is now have all of its metal panels on that section of soffit. The longer north section has yet to be TyVek wrapped and the south end is still bare plywood. Again winter is coming and the day I saw a worker, only one, there should be two teams working to get the siding up before the snow and Ice makes for possible future mold problems. One team on the south wall and one team on the Hennepin soffit and they would have it done in less than a week.

[Nathan]

Siding going up on the Hen face and the clearstory-ish windows

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v0b65mh4x32rz ... 110000.jpg

[Wedgeguy]

They got 4 more rows all across the front done with a start above that. Will be interesting if they can get the front done before the end of the week.

[Wedgeguy]

Looks like they may have all the metal panels on by Friday, end of work week. The Hennepin Ave side is done. Now just the south side is left to be finished and they were 3/4 of the way done with it as of 2:30 this afternoon. Had about 8 1/2 rows at the top left to finish, plus on narrow corner section on the SW corner.

[ECtransplant]

So when are the sidewalks and turning lane going to be opened back up?

[lordmoke]

The sidewalks and turn lane are now open. All you had to do was ask, apparently!

[ECtransplant]

Walked by today. With this and the Walkway, the McDonald's surface lot looks even more out of place.

[Nick]

[Nathan]

last night when I walked by and ate at republic, this looked awesome. the metallic reflection of the now lit trees and uptown marquee made this corner look great. they've also planted trees which looks really nice.

[aeisenberg]

I know a lot of my posts are curmudgeony, so I apologize in advance, but can someone explain to me why this is good design? I'm at a loss.

[Minneboy]

I tend to agree, not impressed. The one value is that it puts eye's on the street. That's always a good thing. Side note, there's my car smack dab in the middle..but it has the wrong plates on it.

[Wedgeguy]

Come look at the library in the afternoon when the west sun is flooding the building with light that was absent from the last building. Libraries today are not the old Carnegie library of old. They are no longer just a depository of books, but other media, computers, and meeting space. Welcome to the 21st century as far as libraries go.

[Nathan]

it's simple and sleek and addresses the street well. a lot of the aesthetic of the metal panels is lost in photographs.