urbanMSP

Library planned to be rebuilt with construction starting sometime this year.

Do we know anything about that?

I haven't seen any new designs in a long time

It would be nice to see the designs. I remember Gail Dorfman saying the building would be transparent. pedestrian friendly, and contemporary. Sounds like the concept for the design was off to a good start.

I glad to say that I've very glad that piece of crap is destroyed. Ugly and ery none funtional building. New building will be alot of glass facing Hennepin and Lagoon. PArking is undergound and there will be light everywhere. Now if they add solar power I'd be happy!

I think they are supposed to close by July and begin initial site work.

Since I was just a little kid, I've always thought the big metal LIBRARY letters, were pretty iconic. It would be a shame to scrap them and I hope they can bring them to a different library in the city.

I think they are supposed to close by July and begin initial site work.

From what you say we will probably see some renderings of the new library in July. I have high hopes this is going to be a great building and asset for Uptown.

could have sworn I saw a rendering a few months ago, anybody know where to find that one?

Go to VJAA.net and they have drawings on their website....pretty bland if you ask me. Far from iconic!

Transparent, pedestrian friendly , and contemporary. Exactly as described by Gail Dorfman. No, it is not iconic, however, being as it's so close to the iconic Uptown Theater marquee, would you want it to be?? It fits in well and has a quiet yet very distinct presence. I think it looks great!

Renderings from the Architect's website:

I heard somewhere that it will connect with and have significant presence on the Greenway. Is this still the case? Judging by the rendering it looks like it's not...

I'm not sure how they would connect to the Midtown Greenway on this project, but the Park Board has plans to redo the segment of the Mall adjacent to the library - it looks like the "architect" has incorporated those plans into the rendering.

When Thatcher broke the news last fall, the funding source was unclear:

http://www.ouruptown.com/2011/10/how-to ... -redesign/

The project page hasn't been updated since, so dunno if they got Hennepin TOD funds. This pdf has renderings:

http://www.minneapolisparks.org/documen ... ng%204.pdf

Basically they're replacing the featureless suburban English garden with a much more interesting contemporary plaza. Personally I liked the kitschy character of the old Library lawn, so adding some interest to the previously wasted Mall space is very welcome.

As for the library itself, Walker may have been ugly but at least it had character. There was plenty of opportunity for great landscaping there that no one seemed to care to take advantage of. This new design is reminiscent of the boring box factories that have been infected suburban industrial parks for the last 6 or 7 decades. Why that form is one to be emulated for a library I'll never understand. I also don't get why anyone would want a bright, open library - the Central library is at least beautiful but it's also impossible to concentrate on reading there. Hopefully they'll at least have the sense not to install those noisy hand dryers in this one. I would love to see a library built by that company that does the interiors for Irish bars - start reading in a comfy cubby paneled with dark wood and hours will pass before you realize it. Big opportunity lost by not partnering for a mixed-use facility here, but I'd rather HC Library spend money on collections rather than leaky roofs, so whatever.

it may have had characater but it was still underground with a leaking roof and had zero street presence. a vestige of the 70-80's. uptown library needs to bring out that corner and provide the neigbhorhood with a fully functional space for all users. it needs to be open to the mall and have windows.

people don't go to libraries to just read a book in a dark, walled off space anymore. libraries have become community centers.

I think the new building will look good and fit in nicely here. I really like the transparency and openness. That relates well to the liberal and open minded character of the Uptown community. The red coloration of the upper exterior will be cheerful and warm. I think there will be spaces inside that will be more intimate for serious reading and studying. The cube shaped skylights protruding on the roof of the building create a nice rhythm and dance along the Hennepin Ave side.The slighlty angled shape of the Library along Hennepin subtly plays off of the Uptown theater complex. The scale also defers to the iconic theater marquee so as not to compete with it visually. My gut feeling is this building will be much more appealing in its 3-D form than how it appears in the rendering.

people don't go to libraries to just read a book in a dark, walled off space anymore. libraries have become community centers.

Seems like we already have community centers to be community centers. Whether you're reading a book with pages or utilizing smart digital media on the mainframe in the cloud, you need a quiet environment to concentrate. The Central library fails in this respect, and hopefully they'll learn from that failure on the new Walker building.

The aesthetics of the building are a matter of personal preference, and I recognize that most buildings of the 70s and 80s were not built to last. But again, regardless of the type of media, libraries exist for people to locate and use media, which has a distinct set of physical requirements from, say, a building that exists to display merchandise.

The overall feel of the building is open and the activity inside is highly visible on Hennepin. Yet , I suspect the library will be designed with some quiet and more private spaces. I'm sure library officials are aware of that need in its design.

I preferred the old plan that included apartments / hotel above the library. My guess is the economy put that project on hold. Personally, I'd like to see this corner add some more residential to the neighborhood. A good way to do that might be to have the City of Minneapolis act like a developer, similar to do what St. Paul is doing with the Penfield and Farmer's Market site.

I preferred the old plan that included apartments / hotel above the library. My guess is the economy put that project on hold. Personally, I'd like to see this corner add some more residential to the neighborhood. A good way to do that might be to have the City of Minneapolis act like a developer, similar to do what St. Paul is doing with the Penfield and Farmer's Market site.

I agree the old plan was better. And your right about the economic times changing. But there are still several vacant surface parking lots to the east of Hennepin that need dense urban infill projects, so I'm not too disappointed in this project from that standpoint. And the design definitely has an urban feeling.

I preferred the old plan that included apartments / hotel above the library. My guess is the economy put that project on hold. Personally, I'd like to see this corner add some more residential to the neighborhood. A good way to do that might be to have the City of Minneapolis act like a developer, similar to do what St. Paul is doing with the Penfield and Farmer's Market site.

When I eventually win a +100 million dollar Powerball jackpot, I'm buying the Arby's lot and building a boutique hotel on it.