The
Design Trust’s inaugural project
paired the Brooklyn Public Library and
New York City’s newly-formed Department
of Design & Construction in a year-long
study to develop
recommendations for all of Brooklyn’s
branch libraries. The resulting 78-page
illustrated manual,
Brooklyn
Public Library Design Guidelines, was
distributed to all of the Library’s
potential architectural and engineering
consultants in order to promote design
excellence in renovation, restoration,
and new construction projects.
Design Trust Fellow Louise Harpman led
a series of interagency, participatory
workshops to research the most innovative
and up-to-date thinking on library design.
In addition to distilling the knowledge
and expertise developed over the years
by Library staff and the City's in-house
designers, these workshops also featured
presentations by industry experts on state-of-the-art
solutions to existing and emerging library
design challenges.
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Ms.
Harpman also conducted extensive one-on-one
consultations with all levels of City and
Library staff and various expert, private-sector
professionals. At the time, DDC Deputy
Commissioner Hillary Brown called the overall
workshop experience "a model for public/private
collaboration." Ms. Brown's interest
in the guidelines, and the innovative
process through which they were developed,
eventually led to two later Design Trust
projects, High
Performance Building Guidelines and Greening
Infrastructure in the Public Right-of-Way. |
