Photo via Alex Proimos

This summer, The Architectural League is collaborating with the Center for an Urban Future on a design study that will articulate new architectural, financial, and programmatic possibilities for New York City’s branch libraries. Re-envisioning Branch Libraries will identify the challenges that branch libraries face and propose design solutions to stimulate conversation about means to support New York’s three library systems and the vital services they provide.

The design study is in conjunction with and a complement to the Center for an Urban Future’s ongoing research on branch libraries in New York City (for more information visit the CUF website). Earlier this summer, the League invited architects and designers interested in participating in this design study to organize interdisciplinary teams and to submit qualifications and a statement of interest in response to a Request for Qualifications. A selection committee, which included Seema Agnani, Chhaya Community Development Corporation; Sarah Goldhagen, The New Republic; Shannon Mattern, The New School; Henry Myerberg, HMA2; Lyn Rice, Rice+Lipka Architects; and members of The Architectural League and Center for an Urban Future project teams, selected five teams from forty-five submissions:

Andrew Berman Architect | Library Development Solutions? | Neil Donnelly | AEA Consulting | Auerbach Pollock Friedlander
Andrew Berman, architect and principal of Andrew Berman Architect; Leslie Burger, director of Princeton Public Library and founder of Library Development Solutions; Neil Donnelly, graphic designer; Adrian and Elizabeth Ellis, cultural consultants and founders of AEA Consulting; and Steven Friedlander, theater consultant, founder of Auerbach Pollock Friedlander.

Marble Fairbanks with James Lima Planning + Development and Special Project Office
Scott Marble and Karen Fairbanks, architects and founding partners of Marble Fairbanks; James Lima, urban planner, real estate developer, and president of James Lima Planning + Development; Richard Tyson, design consultant and founding principal of Special Project Office; and Leah Meisterlin, urbanist, architect, planner, educator, and a director of Special Project Office.

MASS Design Group
Michael Murphy, architect and executive director of MASS Design Group; Michael Haggerty, urban planner and community service fellow at MASS Design Group; Chitra Aiyar, attorney and executive director of Sadie Nash Leadership Project; Phoebe Espirutu, design analyst, faculty member of the Flatiron School, and manager of the TechStars NYC HackStars; and Daniel Hernandez, real estate developer, planner, and project manager.

SITU Studio
Bradley Samuels, architect and founding partner of SITU Studio; Jessica Blaustein, designer, researcher, and director of The New School’s Urban Media Labs in the School of Media Studies; Jesse Keenan, research director for the Center for Urban Real Estate and professor of real estate development at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University; Rachel Meltzer, researcher and assistant professor of urban policy at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at The New School; and Christian Zabriskie and Lauren Comito, founders of Urban Librarians Unite.

UNION
Annie Barrett, architect and principal of Annie Barrett Studio; Adriel Mesznik, senior architect and urban designer at WXY; Ann Whiteside, Harvard Graduate School of Design librarian and assistant dean for information resources; Bryan Boyer, designer and principal of Dash Marshall; Ceren Bingol, senior architect at OMA; Helen Han, architect and filmmaker; Jane Lea, project architect at Architecture Research Office; Landon Brown, designer, researcher, and director of VisionArc; Ryan Thacker, graphic designer at Might Could; Sapna Advani, urban design and planning director at Grain Collective; and Scott Geiger, writer and critic.

> via archleague.org