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Official images released of the Brooklyn Public Library's Interim Brooklyn Heights Branch

280 Cadman Plaza West

Official images released of the Brooklyn Public Library's Interim Brooklyn Heights Branch

Opened last July, official images of the Interim Brooklyn Heights Library have been released. Designed by New York studio Leven Betts, the space will be a three-year temporary home for the branch until construction of the new library—part of a high-rise development at 280 Cadman Plaza West—is complete. The interim facility is located in the parish hall at Our Lady of Lebanon Church, 109 Remsen Street. Development firm, The Hudson Companies is behind the project.

Speaking to The Architect’s Newspaper through email, Leven Betts said how they “designed the Interim space to be a light-filled pleasant space of reading, learning, and community gathering that would function seamlessly for the branch and community while the new building was constructed.” The firm also described their design strategy as “simple,” aiming to “maximize the openness of the existing parish hall space while still providing for private spaces at the librarian staff area and the Multi-Purpose Room.” The solution they said, “is a single translucent wall that bellies out at the ends to create the private spaces with access to light and fresh air and curves in at the middle to create a large shared open space for reading, studying and browsing books.”

Exterior shot of the parish hall of the Our Lady of Lebanon Church. (Courtesy 280 Cadman)
Exterior shot of the parish hall of the Our Lady of Lebanon Church. (Courtesy 280 Cadman)

Using Panelit—a translucent honeycomb-like material—the wall has Walt Whitman’s poem Crossing Brooklyn Ferry printed onto it. Whitman’s work can be read in full as it spans the wall’s 100-foot length. “The response to the design has been very positive,” said Leven Betts. In fact, Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) President and CEO Linda E. Johnson said: “With its bright interior and comfortable environment for attending a program, learning a new skill or simply browsing the shelves, the interim Brooklyn Heights Library is as welcoming and inspiring as the neighborhood it serves.” According to Leven Betts, BPL administrators praised the quality and speed of the project (which took one year from commencement of design to completion of construction).

Leven Betts are currently working on the total renovation of two other BPL projects, one in East Flatbush Brooklyn and one in Borough Park.


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