Library Board Receives Update On Library Project – New Design Update Will Be Available January 18, 2023

The Library Board met 12/20/2022. During their meeting they received a brief update on the Library project.

The transcript of the discussion is available here:

The scope of the library project is currently being reduced in order to bring it into budget. By January 18, 2023, the new design update will be available.

Library Executive Director Colleen Rortvedt told the board that while there would be space reductions they would not be losing any of the spaces that they had been really excited about. They were trying to add some flexibility to the spaces and add to what they could do in order that they could possibly remove one space. The major spaces were going to change and possibly see their location within the building moved. Director Rortvedt said, “Overall, I think they’re going to be as compelling but different.”

A board member wondered how much the updated design would look like the original project design.

Director Rortvedt could not answer that and said that the building’s façade was one of the areas that was still be figured out. She stressed that they were really making an effort to keep the costs down as much as possible and, as an example, pointed to the atrium in the current building. The atrium was a hole with poured concrete flooring, and they were trying to figure out how to take advantage of that existing hole and use it for some of the functions that need to happen without having to modify the space.

It was also noted that the architectural design itself would not come to either the Library Board of the Common Council for approval. The Library Board’s role was to advocate for the library’s needs and the functionality they required, and the Council was in charge of approving the contracts that came before them. [I have to say I didn’t entirely understand that. It seems like some entity ought to have the authority to reject a design.]

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=920204&GUID=26083724-4CAB-4B7B-81F8-5CB7479E3928