Our library can beat up your library

The Lawrence Public Library underwent a complete rebuild between 2013 and 2014 as a result of a voter-approved $18 million renovation initiative. And although plans revealed shortly after the 2010 vote showed what looked like a completely new structure, the old library wasn’t exactly disappearing, either.

When construction got underway in earnest in 2013 the library was quickly gutted and reduced to a shell, with the thick concrete columns and roof the only thing left standing. And then the demolition stopped.

It was quickly apparent that the bones of the original structure would be retained, as the new library rose around the old one. But why? Unlike the other projects downtown with concerns about historic structures (like the Borders store at 7th and New Hampshire in the late nineties), the architects were not required to retain the original facade. And walking around the new interior of the library, you can see the old structure, but only if you know what you’re looking for. It’s integrated in a way that doesn’t draw attention. So why didn’t the demolition crews finish the job? Why go to the effort to leave the old library structure intact in the first place?

It turns out the old library was just too strong to knock down. According to Jay Holley, one of the architects at Gould Evans who helped to design the new library, it was actually cost prohibitive to tear it down completely. “Early estimates were performed and they indicated that it would have cost more to build a new structure than working with the existing.”

The old library was built almost entirely out of reinforced concrete, which was likely an economical option at the time, but would be unusual today. “if a building the size of the library was built in the last twenty years, you’d normally find a steel building where the engineers had designed down to the most economical members possible that still achieve their best practices safety factors, with a steel roof deck and not a concrete one,” said Holley. “So you wouldn’t find the ‘reserve capacity’ that a low concrete structure like the library has. That we were able to add on to the library like we did is of a reflection of the tremendous bearing capacity of concrete and the construction type once common at that scale but now rare.”

That ‘reserve capacity’ - and a very deep foundation - also meant that the architects and had the freedom to design a chunk of the new structure to hang off the old using cantilevers:

image via the Lawrence Public Library

The final design is a far cry from the plans envisioned by developers when the idea of a new library was first proposed in 2006:

Riverfront Mall library street view

Parking lot view of the entrance of the Riverfront Mall transformed into a new public library.

Riverfront Mall library, river view

View from the river of the Riverfront Mall transformed into a new public library.

GPLM rendering of multi-use library

One of many clean sheet designs that were being proposed for locations other than the current library site

Lawrence Arts Center-adjacent library

Proposal from a group led by Schmalberg & Moore to build a four story library at Ninth & New Hampshire

Fritzel library and Vermont Street redevelopment

Gene Fritzel’ Construction’s vision for completely revamped 600, 700 & 800 blocks of Vermont Street, including a new building for the library at the southwest corner of 6th & Vermont Street.

Fritzel 2005 Vermont Street redevelopment detail

Detail from Gene Fritzel Construction’s vision for completely revamped 600 & 700 blocks of Vermont Street, including a new building for the library at the southwest corner of 6th & Vermont Street.

With a much more modest budget (anywhere from one third to one half the cost of the 2006 proposals) designers like Holley leaned in to the challenge that the old library presented. “Retaining the existing structure imposed an array of significant constraints on the project – we had an existing concrete frame to design around, after all – but as with many design exercises the ‘limits’ were also an integral part of the solution, and working within and around those limits added a layer of richness to the completed library.”

Original concrete pillars along the south side entryway of the new Lawrence Public Library.

TRIVIA BONUSES

Basic Trivia: The renovation added an additional 20,000 square feet to the library, bringing the total to 65,000 square feet.

Bar Trivia: The original library cost $1,575,000 in 1972.

Showing Off Trivia: When it opened in 1972, the original library on the site was the largest municipal building in Lawrence.

LFK Trivia: Behold the library you could have had, Lawrence:

via the Lawrence Journal-World, June 9, 2006

The only option from the original proposals in 2006 that was not tied to private development, it called for spending $48 million to build a 140,000 square foot library on the location of the current one. For comparison, the newly-built city rec facility at Rock Chalk Park is 181,000 square feet.

Special thanks to Jay Holley at Gould Evans for his invaluable help in putting together this story.