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The building program addresses three quasi independent functions: a library for 44,000 volumes, community rooms for social events and the introduction of a literacy program called READ SAN DIEGO.

The community being vibrant, multiracial and multi-cultural called for a building that would at once speak of its readers and at the same time respect a hillside. Indeed, the site offers great opportunities for a building requiring a certain presence in the community. The architect chose to integrate the building into the hill, thereby “rooting” the building in the community using berming and low retaining walls. With this part, the building wisely reduces the grading element of the site and addresses the sensitive issue of becoming a “monument”.

The structural elements of the building are cast-in-place concrete walls, wood frame walls, and glue-laminated beams all set on a split-level concrete slab. The other distinctive features of the building are the roof, constructed of pre-weathered standing seam metal and sweeping curved walls defining “friendly” massing. The building totals 26,042 square feet and sits on an eight acre site. Three-time award winner; ASCE, AIA, SARA.





Project received the Society of American Registered Architects (SARA)
Design Award of Honor, 1998


Project received an Orchid Award for Community Enrichment, 1996


Project received an American Society of Civil Engineers Award
Outstanding Civil Engineering Project Award, 1996


Updated: September 23, 2008