Boundary County Library Project

The Boundary County Library project was a semester long assignment that was focused in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. The community wanted to expand upon their current small town library and design a 30,000 sq. ft. total building that would include the library as well as shared spaces that could be at the use of any person. These shared spaces include a wet lab, fabrication lab, digital technology lab, commercial kitchen, classrooms, meeting rooms, storage, and maker spaces. Obviously, this would require a well thought out plan and lots of detailed thought process to come up with something that would make the community happy. Split into three groups, the class was challenged with working with other classmates and come up with three different designs. Working with the community was also difficult because they were not quite clear with what they wanted. We had to try and come up with something that we thought would fit them. Group B decided to stick with a traditional design, cladding the exterior with brick and including arched windows with flower boxes to give it that unique touch. With a large front courtyard, the community would have a place where they could spend time outside when the weather permitted and create a comfortable and distinctive aspect to the design. The interior will include all of the spaces above as well as a coffee shop and roof terrace, ensuring that visitors would feel welcome and comfortable to relax and have the library feel like their own. Overall, this design would be a great fit for the community and would be an exceptional building for them to grow and learn in. Working in groups and with the community was a great learning experience and taught the class a lot about what it would be like to work in the real world with real clients.