COLUMBUS METROPOLITAN LIBRARY: DUBLIN BRANCH / NBBJ
Photo by Chuck Choi ©NBBJ
info /
Role: Lead Designer
Client: Columbus Metropolitan Library
Size: 43,000 sf
Typology: Library
Location: Dublin, OH
Status: Completed 2019
About /
Dublin Library is driven by bringing an urban gravity and mentality to an established suburban context. The library aims to be part of a more connected and walkable community through thoughtful landscape design and active public spaces. The new Dublin Branch is the largest branch in the library system.
Initially conceived as a duel program with both library and City of Dublin components, it has since shifted to be primarily a library. Programmatically, the site size and topography have required a reduced footprint and cemented a design strategy that lifts a less-active stack volume above a split level ground condition. Its dynamic upper volume cascades above a heavy plinth that negotiates grade and facilitates movement down and through the library space.
At grade the library puts very little obstructions between itself and a plaza adjacent to the south. Conceived of as flexible space for the people of Dublin and the public at large, the new library will extend learning opportunities and interaction through space-making, and become a hub in a suburb on the cusp of transformation.
