Architects: Bora Architecture & Interiors; Colloqate Design
Size and location: Adding 6,000 square feet on existing site
Timeline: Now open!
The beloved Midland Library is now renovated and expanded, going from 24,400 square feet to 30,000 square feet on the existing site.
Midland Library sees some of the highest usage of any library location in the county. All of the updates are the result of extensive community and staff engagement with features for everyone in the community to enjoy.
New features
Midland Library was renovated and expanded, adding 6,000 square feet of space to help the library change and grow along with the community.
Based on input from community members, new features will include:
- Outdoor interactive children’s garden.
- Large play and learning space for children and families.
- Teen room with space for technology, homework and creative expression.
- Updated technology and internet.
- Outdoor plaza for community members to relax and connect.
- Automated Materials Handling, ensuring materials get to patrons much faster.
- Modern self checkout stations to provide a better patron experience.
- Multiple flexible community rooms.
- An interior Gathering Circle and exterior Conversation Circle, designed with insights from Indigenous communities, symbolize connection to the world around us and foster conversations with others.
- New art that represents the community, including:
- Exterior entryway canopy.
- Gathering Circle mural.
- Three sculptures along the entry plaza.
See what you, the community, voted for at the new Midland Library with this downloadable poster and fly-through!
Centering the community
We heard from the community through focus groups, public meetings, surveys, workshops, and more. Midland Library supports one of the most culturally diverse areas in the region. Community input should reflect that diversity.
That’s why the library and design team worked with Community Design Advocates (CDAs) as part of a paid program. Their mission was to connect with their communities about how this library can represent them.
These are some of the groups they worked with:
- Latinx families
- Chinese community
- Black parents and youth
- Vietnamese community
- Slavic communities
- Indigenous communities
- People experiencing houselessness
- Disability community
- Seniors
For teen spaces, we gathered some exciting ideas and updates through a four-week-long paid teen program in partnership with Your Street Your Voice. Teens shared what matters most to them in the space, with areas for hanging out, technology access and creative expression.
During a pattern workshop, community members shared culturally important stories from their lives. They made patterns based on their stories. The design team used the patterns as inspiration for a final design for the library’s exterior. This pattern will welcome visitors from diverse communities.
Learn about how community engagement has guided all the projects.