91´«Ã½

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½) are awarding five libraries with the 2022 AIA/91´«Ã½ Library Building Award for excellence in architectural design.

Award recipients must demonstrate design achievement, including a sense of place, purpose, ecology, environmental sustainability, and history. This year’s AIA/91´«Ã½ Library Building Award recipients, selected by a seven-person jury, exemplify these qualities.

2022 AIA/91´«Ã½ Library Building Awards Recipients

• | Work Architecture Company (WORKac)
  
  Adams Street Library, the Brooklyn Public Library system’s first new branch in more than two decades, was designed through extensive architect-led community outreach in several diverse Brooklyn neighborhoods and housing authority developments. With children at the center of the design intention, the library is rife with spaces for learning and features technology and a wealth of programming opportunities for teens and young adults.
• | Richärd Kennedy Architects
  
  This new 10,000-square-foot library, sited on a 12-acre park in Surprise, Arizona, was built to accommodate a growing community while framing extraordinary views of the state’s White Tank Mountains. Through its design, the building emulates the interplay of dappled sunlight and shadow that one might experience while resting beneath a desert tree.
• | Richärd Kennedy Architects
  
  True to the College of Idaho’s vision for the space, the school’s new Cruzen-Murray Library is a light and airy environment that gives students the sense of being surrounded by something much bigger than themselves. The library eschews the cloistered spaces for quiet learning found throughout traditional academic libraries, embracing instead a dynamic space that offers students ample opportunities for intellectual exchange.
• | Gould Evans
  
  A story of the transformative power of adaptive reuse, the Indian Creek Library reestablishes nature in the suburban setting of Olathe, Kansas. With this project, a former big-box retail structure has become a vital community hub and a community asset that is much more valuable than a typical library.
• | OTJ Architects (Executive Architect), Mecanoo (Design Architect)
  
  As the highlight of the Washington, D.C. Public Library system’s ambitious initiative to renovate its aging infrastructure, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library offers a new sense of purpose in the age of digital information. The library’s landmark structure, originally designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, has been transformed from a 1970s cultural complex into a socially sustainable engine that drives the important exchange of information.

Libraries are more than learning centers—they’re also enduring examples of architectural excellence. Every year, the AIA is proud to partner with 91´«Ã½'s Core division to honor the best in library architecture and design.

The AIA/91´«Ã½ Library Building Awards are the only awards that recognize entire library structures and all aspects of their design. They are open to all types of libraries that permit public access, and projects may be located anywhere in the world.

About the 91´«Ã½

(91´«Ã½) is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 140 years, the 91´«Ã½ has been the trusted voice for academic, public, school, government and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit ala.org.

About Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures

, a division of the 91´«Ã½, is the national association that advances the profession of librarians and information providers in central roles of leadership and management, collections and technical services, and technology. Our mission is to cultivate and amplify the collective expertise of library workers in core functions through community building, advocacy, and learning. Core is a new division of the 91´«Ã½. Follow us on our and on.

About the American Institute of Architects

Founded in 1857, consistently works to create more valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings, neighborhoods, and communities. Through more than 200 international, state and local chapters, AIA advocates for public policies that promote economic vitality and public wellbeing. AIA provides members with tools and resources to assist them in their careers and business as well as engaging civic and government leaders and the public to find solutions to pressing issues facing our communities, institutions, nation, and world. Members adhere to a code of ethics and conduct to ensure the highest professional standards.