Walpole Public Library – LLB Architects

Walpole, MA – The Walpole Public Library is a rare new building sited adjacent to the town hall and historic Blackburn Hall and just steps away from downtown. LLB Architects had been working with the Walpole community since 2007 when it was asked to re-envision and improve upon a previous library design, accepted for a construction grant from the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners. After a long, 22 process and funding approval by a slim margin, the community of Walpole can be proud of its new library.
The design of the new 32,000sf building uses traditional architectural textures, colors, and fundamentals of traditional architecture to respond to the New England context. The library program is organized around four masses encased in fiber cement panels that anchor the building’s entries. In between them, generous circulation paths, a sculptural staircase, and skylights create a feeling of openness and lightness. The difference in treatment and fenestration on each side of the library appropriately responds to its site orientation and the environmental effects on them.
On the interior, service desks for circulation, reference, and the children’s area are centrally located for the highest visibility and security. One of the areas in the library that has grown in popularity is the quiet study rooms, designed with floor to ceiling glass, which allows for a sense of privacy and territory, but a sense of security as well.
The building is expected to receive LEED Silver certification and makes use of both passive sustainable strategies as well as active strategies.
Walpole’s new library, with a project budget of $11.2 million, has been made possible by various contributions including a generous grant from the MBLC, charitable donations from the community, and optimism from the taxpayers of Walpole.