Architects: Bora Architecture & Interiors; Colloqate Design
Size and location: Adding 6,000 square feet on existing site
Timeline: Closing for construction December 23, 2022; scheduled to reopen summer 2024
While Midland Library is closed for construction, Multnomah County libraries will be providing services in our service languages in the areas most affected by lack of access. Find your nearest library location and other services.
Get involved
What do you want your library to look like? Join in these upcoming community events and let’s build these libraries together.
Community events will be updated as they are scheduled.
New features
Midland Library will be 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.
- Dedicated teen room with space for technology, homework and creative expression.
- Updated technology and internet.
- Outdoor plaza for community members to relax and connect.
- New art that represents the community.
- A Gathering Circle for community conversation.
Get a sneak peek at what the new Midland Library will look like with this fly-through! Inside, the design will represent patterns and colors found in nature. The outside will be updated with a new pattern, inspired by community feedback from the Community Art Workshop in September 2022.
Look forward to new art in partnership with the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Community artists will design the exterior canopy, the exterior sculpture and interior Gathering Circle. Your ideas will help create these designs, so check back for community events.
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.
