Civic: Black River Falls
Public Library
Black River Falls, WI
The Public Library was planned as the initial phase of a master plan to create a new Municipal Center with a City Hall and Police Station in the heart of the downtown area. 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.
The library incorporates a Prairie School exterior design. The 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 plan.
