New Carrollton Library

For over 40 years, the New Carrollton Library has been regarded by patrons as a prominent center for learning and community collaboration. This full interior renovation and addition breathes new life into the two-story Brutalist-style structure creating a welcoming, technology-rich facility that reasserts its place as a community anchor and meets the needs of today’s library patrons.

Responding to the dynamic shift of libraries from places of quiet study to vibrant centers of community collaboration, the two-dimensional triangular floor plan transforms into a three-dimensional prism that breaks through the former understated entry, framing the new entrance. Seen from afar, this symbol of enlightenment re-establishes the building as a beacon to the community.

The library’s interior layout responds to the existing triangular configuration that placed major destinations at each of the three apexes: children’s collection, public meeting rooms, and a lobby and café area. In keeping with the design technique, a shifted secondary grid of collection space and study rooms creates an orderly kaleidoscopic effect, radiating around the central social space.