Rear view of Pike County Library scheme facing the Sawmill Creek ravine (top); interior atrium (bottom).
COURTESY Frederic Schwartz Architects

On March 5, the Pike County Public Library in Milford, Pennsylvania, selected Frederic Schwartz Architects to design its new building. Other proposals came from New Yorkk based BKSK Architects and Bolin Cywinski Jackson in Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania. Architectural writer Alastair Gordon organized the jury, which included historian Kenneth Frampton, artist and art writer Sylvia Kolbowski, architect Jonathan Marvel, among others. The library will vacate the landmarked building it has outgrown and relocate to a site between Harford Street and the Sawmill Creek ravine.

Schwartz has sited the building at the lotts rear, creating a small public lawn along Harford Street that echoes the greens fronting other local municipal buildings. At its rear, the buildinggs upper volume cantilevers out and exposes ceiling-height windows to the ravine, acting as a bridge between the town and the wild landscape of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The design includes a caff and a lightfilled atrium, which will double as a gathering space for events like the townns annual film festival. A fundraising campaign kicks off in April. A construction timeline has not been set.

CARL YOST