Project
A Library with
Curb Appeal
Columbus Metropolitan Library
Columbus, OH, USA
Elevating the Local Library
The Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Dublin Branch engages its community with contemporary design, natural light and a variety of places to serve the expanding mission of a neighborhood library.
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Thoughtfully designed pathways provide a calming entry for patrons of all ages — and an attractive stormwater retention landscape reduces runoff into nearby waterways.
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Reading terraces step along with the exterior rain gardens and landscape elements, creating a connected experience from inside out.
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The lounge overlook features views over High Street and the Scioto River beyond. Custom lighted ceiling elements offer sound mitigation and soft, even lighting, while grounding the modular seating elements below.
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Upholstered niches welcome young readers to curl up with their favorite books and interact with the display.
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With thoughtful landscape design and active public spaces, the Dublin Branch library brings an urban center of gravity to a rapidly densifying suburb of Columbus, Ohio.
The third project designed by NBBJ with the Columbus Metropolitan Library, the new Dublin library doubles the square footage of the previous building and is the system’s largest branch. In keeping with the transition of libraries in general, it is more than a place of quiet introspection, but also a place to meet, socialize, study, hang out and plug in.
The design lifts the less-active book stacks within a dynamic upper volume, which hovers above a heavier-seeming plinth that negotiates the grade change and facilitates movement down and through the library. Inside, a double-height atrium brings daylight to all levels.
At street level, the library connects to a new public plaza that transitions to the historic fabric of downtown Dublin. A flexible space for the entire community, the new library and plaza is a major hub in a suburb on the cusp of transformation.
Awards and Publications
Awards
Columbus Metropolitan Library: Dublin Branch, AIA Ohio Design Award, Honorable Mention, 2019
Columbus Underground, The Best Architectural Design of 2017
Publications
Columbus Underground, “The Best Architectural Design of 2017,” November 29, 2017
Columbus Business First, “Plan to blend modern Dublin library branch with rustic city revealed,” August 14, 2017
Columbus Business First, “Columbus Library unveils striking design for new Dublin branch,” January 12, 2017
