The studio is designing a new public library in Columbia, Maryland, with a vision to reimagine a traditional library as a new type of community centre for broader learning and social exchange.

While visitors can loan books from the library, they’ll also be able to join cooking classes or literacy programmes, borrow tools for DIY projects, attend talks, and exchange knowledge and ideas with others.

Conceived for Howard County Libraries, the building will be set on the city’s main promenade and appear as if lifting from the surrounding landscape. Cascading planted staircases will weave across the exterior to reveal the open, double-storey atrium where public events can be hosted, and where the library will showcase its loanable art collection.

Working and reading spaces, play areas, a makers’ lab, a teaching kitchen and a café will be accommodated over five storeys. There will also be facilities for education and cultural programmes, and panoramic viewpoints looking out towards Lake Kittamaqundi.

The design team was inspired by the vision of James Rouse, the founder of Columbia, who saw ‘cities as gardens for the growing of people’ and who believed that communities should foster diversity and promote wellbeing.

He also believed in the providing the city’s residents with access to nature. As such, the walkable façade of our building will incorporate multiple landscaped terraces, all richly planted in native plant species. The library will seamlessly join with the surrounding lakefront, becoming a place for people to gather and relax.

The library will serve all county residents, as well as visitors from across the US. Construction is expected to start in late 2024 with the library opening in 2027.