BLACK RIVER FALLS PUBLIC LIBRARY

Black River Falls, Wisconsin

The Public Library is planned as the initial phase of a masterplan to create a new Municipal Center with a City Hall and Police Station in the heart of the downtown area. The library site is on the western corner of the parcel with dedicated off-street parking and a canopied entrance.

The library incorporates a prairie-school influenced exterior design. The pitched hipped roof with broad overhangs works successfully to blend the building into a site that straddles a two to three story downtown and a smaller scale residential neighborhood. The addition of a clerestory cupola to the top of the hip roof establishes a distinctive identity for the new building and brings natural light into the center of the large floor plan.

The layout of the new library is designed with two key features; the central location of the circulation desk for visibility and control, and public access to the Program Room when the library is closed. Both of these features were critical to the plan configuration. The plan is basically a 100 foot square with a centered north entrance and a naturally lit north-south circulation spine with the major program areas working off each side. The circulation desk is almost directly in the center with clear views into the youth, collection, adult and History Room areas.