PHILOSOPHY We approach each project by responding to its program, site, and use, rather than the expression of a predetermined style. While budget, schedule, and programmatic needs inform every project, each is also shaped by a larger conceptual vision. Each concept is intrinsic to context, function, and technical performance of the building, establishing a singular idea that guides the architectural solution. Clarity of the idea is fundamental to our work. Form, light, and material serve as the tools that give each concept expression. Through collaboration with our clients, we seek to create architecture that is purposeful, enduring, and deeply connected to its context.
OUR APPROACH TO LIBRARY DESIGN Richärd Kennedy Architects has worked with communities and institutions for three decades to plan, program, and design libraries that respond to the evolving ways people learn, connect, create, and engage with one another. With more than 30 libraries completed across the country and abroad, we understand the essential role of these vital community and campus spaces. Libraries provide free and open access to knowledge and technology while supporting lifelong learning, workforce development, creative exploration, and personal growth. As needs, programs, and technologies evolve, they must remain flexible and relevant for generations to come. Central to our approach is the belief that no two libraries—or communities—are alike. Each library we design grows from an understanding of its community, its place, and the aspirations of those it serves. Working closely with our clients and stakeholders, we translate those priorities into environments that are welcoming, intuitive, adaptable, and uniquely their own. We have seen firsthand the transformative impact a library can have. At its best, a library becomes more than a building—it becomes a catalyst for connection, opportunity, and community.
GATEWAY PUBLIC LIBRARY M esa , A r izona
Sited within Eastmark Great Park, Gateway Library reflects the City of Mesa’s vision for its library system: “curiosity, learning, connection, inspiration, creativity, and dreaming starts here.” Conceived as a civic pavilion within the park, the library is organized around the idea of an open market—a welcoming, active environment that brings people, programs, and community together beneath a singular folded roof. A central “market street” forms the social heart of the library, connecting makerspaces, community meeting rooms, a young adult lounge, and children’s and storytime areas. These active spaces turn inward toward the central core, while quieter reading and study areas are positioned along the perimeter, opening to views of the adjacent lake and park. Generous overhangs extend the architecture into the landscape, providing shade while strengthening the connection between interior and exterior spaces. Designed to welcome people of all ages and abilities, the library incorporates trauma-informed design principles in the selection of color, materials, lighting, and furnishings to create an intuitive, comfortable environment that supports neurodiversity. A dedicated sensory room further expands the library’s ability to serve the community and supports Mesa’s commitment as a Certified Autism Center. Guided by a simple architectural idea, Gateway Library brings together place, people, and purpose to create a welcoming civic environment where architecture and landscape work as one to foster community.
SELECT AWARDS
2026 IFLA Public Library of the Year 2026 ALA / IIDA Library Building Award 2026 Metal Architecture Design Awards, Grand Award 2026 Fast Company: Innovation by Design Honoree 2024 IIDA / AIA Library Award, Unbuilt
PALM DESERT MUNICIPAL LIBRARY Palm Deser t , C ali for nia
The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains form a scenic backdrop to the Coachella Valley. Dramatic views to these surrounding mountains play a large role in the unique experience of living in Palm Desert. With a conceptual design formulated around a ‘library within a palm grove’, the lines between landscape and building are blurred, and a new amenity for the Civic Center Park is provided, taking full advantage of the year-round weather, mountainous views, and striking beauty of Palm Desert. The architectural form of an extensive canopy integrates the natural structure and function of the palm grove by providing shade and shelter from the elements, filtered light and airflow, evoking the sense of being in a natural environment. The design features organic patterns that mimic the fronds of palms, boulder forms, and textural qualities of sandy riverbeds. Innovative program spaces including community pod, visitor center, meeting rooms, a lab and innovation studio, and storytime program room are distributed throughout the interior. Multiple exterior program spaces are provided adjacent to associated interior space that include flexible seating with large sliding glass openings providing fluid transitions from interior to exterior. The new library is set to create a dynamic and inclusive space that provides equal access to resources and technologies for Palm Desert’s diverse residents. Designed to accommodate current and future programs and needs, the library will foster community participation and collaboration, advance educational outcomes, and maximize the community’s shared investment by creating safe, welcoming, and innovative spaces that will serve Palm Desert for years to come.
ASANTE PUBLIC LIBRARY Sur pr ise, A r izona
Given the context and site set in the park, the design of the library seeks to emulate dappled sunlight and shadow play as one would experience under a tree canopy. The park currently serves as a regional retention basin that collects and drains along the local greenbelt. To reduce overall site disturbance, the library is built on an elevated plinth to maintain the required clearance for rainfall collection and act as the foundation for the building to anchor to. The library takes advantage of the site by providing a large open reading room with full height glazing affording views of the park and White Tank Mountain range. Core program functions, a multi-purpose meeting room, staff area, and support spaces, are organized along the north edge of the building within a solid core finished with aluminum composite wall panels. The plaza serves as a multiuse space with integrated bench seating shaded under tree canopies and landscape. To temper the solar impact on the glazing, a vertical and horizontal canopy along the eastern, southern, and western elevations became the main design element and concept for the library. The continuity between vertical and horizontal planes, in both exterior and interior applications, creates a dynamic façade of filtered sunlight, shadow play, and an artistic draw back to the tree canopy in the park.
SELECT AWARDS
2022 AIA / ALA Library Building Awards 2021 The Chicago Athenaeum, International Architecture Award 2020 AIA WMR Design Excellence Merit Award – Built 2020 AIA AZ Honor Award - Built
EAST LAS VEGAS PUBLIC LIBRARY Las Vegas , N evada
Sitting in contrast to the desert climate of its setting, a gathering of mature and verdant Aleppo pine trees rest in the east Las Vegas neighborhood that serves as the site for the new East Las Vegas Library. The design of the library preserves and emphasizes this distinctive landscape by integrating it into the gathering spaces; central to the library’s connection to the community The library’s materials and form relate to the neighboring architecture. Glass to the north and south of the main library creates transparency through the building, connecting the public plaza to the south through the library and out to Bonanza Road to the north. The building is defined primarily by three zones: the main library area, the multi-purpose area, and the business center. The main library supports traditional library services along with spaces for community-based outreach programs including a family activity room, green screen and recording studio, multi-generational living room, café, and a mobile maker space. The multi-purpose area includes a large divisible meeting room, demonstration kitchen, greenroom, and dressing room, as well as pre-function gallery space. To support diverse demographics, the business center serves the local workforce with classrooms, a print center, collaboration space, meeting rooms, and counseling services with after-hours access. The new library exemplifies 21st Century library design principles and sustainable practices. Within its first eight months, East Las Vegas Library received 271,158 visits and was the most visited in the city. “I see a lot of excited faces,” said Miranda Tala, Youth Services Department Lead for the City of East Las Vegas. “People are in awe. People have more access to technology. We aren’t a traditional library.”
SELECT AWARDS
2020 NAIOP Southern Nevada, Honor Award, Special Use 2019 AIA Nevada, Citation Award, Built Category 2019 ULI Placemaking Award, Community Place
CRUZEN-MURRAY ACADEMIC LIBRARY C ald well, I daho
The Cruzen-Murray library has become a campus gateway and signature building for the College of Idaho. Shaped by legacy of the library’s primary doner, Debbie Cruzen-Murray, the library features 60,000 square feet of enclosed floor area over three levels as well as an integrated archival space to consolidate the college’s vast art collection in a controlled, high-density storage environment. The design incorporates both passive and active measures to reduce energy consumption. Using the performance-based compliance method, the building exceeds energy efficiency code requirements by producing up to 67.7% cost savings. The exterior skin is an insulated glass curtain wall which is shaded by a series of perforated metal shade fins arranged to accept natural light into the interior spaces based on the cycles of the sun. The shade fins spiral around the elliptical shape, rising at the entry to invite visitors to the interior space. The interior is arranged with public and social spaces on the west, facing the existing campus and quadrangle, and quiet study and individual spaces primarily placed on the east. Book stacks are arrayed along the eastern edge of the building on the ground and second levels. Flexibility for future technology and pedagogical needs is promoted by an open flexible floor plan and the use of access flooring for distribution of ventilation and utility resources. After the library’s opening in 2018, the College matriculated its largest freshman class in history and has experienced consecutive years of enrollment growth since. “It’s very difficult not to get excited with them as they go about their research,” Idaho Library Director Christine Schutz said. “The library’s life and purpose, shaped by Debbie CruzenMurray’s vision, will continue to inspire staff and attract students who are eager to learn.”
SELECT AWARDS
2022 AIA/ALA, Library Building Award 2021 The Chicago Athenaeum, International Architecture Award 2018 AIA Western Mountain Region, Design Excellence Honor Award 2018 AIA Arizona, Honor Award
SOUTH MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY LIBRARY Phoeni x , A r izona
The new facility integrates the social, academic, educational aspects and functional requirements of a college campus library with the popular and community based nature of a public library. This joint use library accommodates the needs of campus requirements for vivid, innovative pedagogy, and the City’s need for a fresh vital community library. It features public use computing commons, 200 seat multipurpose meeting space, collaborative classrooms, conference room, quiet group study rooms, cyber café, archive room, multi-media center, pod cast studio, and a library staff workroom. An extensive teen and children’s areas, a children’s library and story time room are connected to the exterior courtyard dedicated for children’s use. This state-of-the-art building is modeled after the architecture of an integrated circuit, providing insulation between disparate functions and promoting interaction and connection between like functions and spaces. Academic programs affiliated with those within the public library are organized around vertical interconnected spaces; providing a discrete connection while maintaining critical organization within each discipline. Natural light is brought deep into the diagram through a series of triple insulated clerestory monitors through a series of light shafts to the floors below.
SELECT AWARDS
2012 AIA Western Mountain Region, Citation Award 2012 AIA Arizona, Honor Award 2012 Library Journal, New Landmark Library 2012 IIDA PRIDE, Education Design Excellence Award 2012 IIDA PRIDE, Public Merit Award 2012 North American Copper in Architecture Award 2013 AIA / ALA Award, Award of Excellence
ESTRELLA HALL Avondale, A r izona
The major expansion of the existing Estrella Hall is a new centerpiece and reorients the campus to the future direction of the masterplan. Recognizing the importance that the landscape plays in the definition of Estrella Mountain Community College, the building is designed to reinforce the fabric of the campus by continuing the development of a series of linked garden spaces. Conceived as a pavilion within the landscaped campus core, the building is a backdrop for the garden spaces around it. Functions such as the computer commons and campus library previously located in the existing building were relocated to the expansion. The first floor of the existing Estrella Hall was renovated to expand the Information Technology area, provide new classrooms, and accommodate the primary tutoring functions in the open commons area. This common open space extends the library and computing commons into the expansion, housing the library and computer commons, lounge and reading spaces. Above the alternating two story daylit spaces, functional “bridges” follow the pattern of the existing building. This configuration allows daylighting in the core of the building, minimizes the noise and distraction concerns of a single large central space, and provides access between offices and classroom spaces.
SELECT AWARDS
2014 ASLA Arizona Design Honor Award 2013 AIA Arizona, Citation
COLLEGE CENTER, SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN CAMPUS A pache J unc t ion , A r izona
The College Center is a true mixed-use project, uniquely tied to its sense of place along the foothills of the Superstition Mountains. The open and interactive program provides many types of learning spaces to fit a diverse student body. Spaces include student services, science teaching labs, classrooms, library, tutoring center, computer commons, offices, community room, café, and bookstore. The new ‘heart’ of the campus, the College Center is sited at the center of campus, bridging an existing arroyo that provides a unique link to the microclimate of the desert landscape. A key goal of the College was to present a new face to the community and build an iconic centerpiece to the campus that would create precedence for future growth. The building layout was organized by creating two centers: the student commons, defined by floor to ceiling glass and a large folded ceiling that spans across open learning spaces; the second by a group of five science teaching labs with a technical focus. The two centers are linked by a bridge occupied by offices and lounge areas that provides an academic link between functions. Open lounges and learning spaces, combined with a café, open computer lab, and exterior patio space encourages collaborative and flexible learning. Tutoring and library services are easily accessible off common areas offering extended learning opportunities and casual interaction.
SELECT AWARDS
2013 AIA Arizona, Citation 2014 ASLA Arizona Design Honor Award
ARABIAN PUBLIC LIBRARY Scot t sdale, A r izona
The building is a remembrance of the desert slot canyons of northern Arizona and Monument Valley, capturing the powerful and unique experience between the compressive stone walls and the ultimate release to the sky above. Ever-patient threads of water, sculpting and polishing the massive walls, cut these natural sandstone canyons over millennia. Harder stone and slow water sharply define vertical slivers while softer stone gives way to form the wider crevasse. The library echoes this powerful natural sequence. Organized about a central court, the building is entered through a “slot canyon” of steel and glass. Walls of weathered steel plate reflect the terra-cotta red walls of stone as they lean in overhead, then fall away from the entry path opening to the sky above. The steel walls of the building support a gravel and stone roof, utilizing natural materials from the site. A continuous thread of water echo’s the natural erosion of the canyon wall creating the powerful imagery of the building, and eventually pooling at the edge of the courtyard. A singular tree is the focus of the space. The centralized court is used as a pre-function and program spaces for the library and meeting rooms. Two slender “canyon courts” flank the west and south sides of the building, expanding library lounge spaces to the exterior and ultimately opening the building to the sky and desert floor again.
SELECT AWARDS
2009 AIA/ALA Award of Excellence 2009 The Chicago Athenaeum, American Architecture Award 2008 ALA/IIDA Honor Award, Public Libraries 30,000 sq.- smaller 2008 IIDA SW Chapter PRIDE Award Design Excellence for Public Facility 2008 AIA Arizona Honor Award 2008 AIA Western Mountain Region Honor Award 2008 AIA/IIDA Best of Competition
DESERT BROOM LIBRARY C ave C reek , A r izona
Borrowing from the symbiotic relationship of young saguaro cacti and its nurse tree along the arroyos edge, the expansive roof of the Desert Broom Library creates a shaded microclimate, providing filtered daylight, shelter, and a nurturing environment for intellectual growth. The library includes a collection of 61,000 volumes and was designed for growth of up to 100,000. It houses a multi-purpose meeting room, computer training room, group study area, youth and teen space, periodicals living room, and staff support space. The roof form extends above an adjoining arroyo 60 feet out into the natural desert, creating indoor and outdoor transitional spaces to provide a seamless transition into the desert. These outdoor reading spaces are enclosed and shaded by a series of coiled metal screens following the natural form of the arroyo, and are cooled by building relief air. The roof is penetrated by a series of openings allowing filtered light into the interior and exterior spaces. Each of the openings is treated with either fritted or colored glass creating an ever-changing series of colors and patterns throughout the space, culminating in celebration above the children’s area. Within the framework of the roof, a series of volumes contain the meeting room, information cubes, staff, and computer training areas. Mechanical systems are enclosed within these volumes completely eliminating ductwork and allowing for indirect lighting throughout. Above each of the primary service points within the building “Digital Information Cubes” display ever-changing representations of digital information which can be seen from the exterior during the evening. The successful response to the programmatic needs of the community it serves has made Desert Broom a rich and vital part of this Cave Creek neighborhood.
SELECT AWARDS
2006 ALA/IIDA Award for Innovation in Sustainable Design 2005 IIDA Southwest Pride Award, Commercial Best of Show 2005 AIA Western Mountain Region, Honor Award, Design Excellence 2004 AIA Arizona Merit Award, Design
SUNRISE MOUNTAIN PUBLIC LIBRARY Peor ia , A r izona
A modern full-service public library with a 100,000-piece collection, the facility utilizes RFID, and self-service technology. Library includes adult, teen and youth reading spaces, common areas, and multi-use facilities. This community gathering place is warm, inviting and practical. Inspired by the waves off the nearby Lake Pleasant, the nautical theme is reflected throughout the space with whimsical and functional elements. Materials were carefully chosen for their form, flexibility, and functionality. The new Sunrise Mountain Library is a replacement for a joint use, public library in a high school that had been in existence for over ten years. The look and feel was institutional, public parking non-existent and the hours insufficient. The community had been very patient and because of this deserved the very best. The City of Peoria wanted a building that surpassed community needs, had a wow-factor in design and at the same time was practical and flexible. The library boasts several environmentally friendly aspects. The design of the facility, especially the roofline, blends well with the background of mountains in the distance creating a sense of place. The roof’s outer membrane is aluminum which reflects the sun’s rays in the summer months. Run-off from the roofs is managed through an inner wall drainage system that empties directly into retention basins. Finally, the glass walls on the east side allow for minimal artificial lighting during the morning hours. The interior features glass walls and shelving on wheels allow for expanded programming space but is aesthetically pleasing when not in use. Glassed in study rooms and gallery entrances make for an almost perfect line of sight anywhere in the main areas. Ample wall space allowed for the City to display an impressive art collection that had been selected with the architect’s assistance.
SELECT AWARDS
2012 North American Copper in Architecture 2011 AIA Western Mountain Region, Honor Award 2009 AIA Arizona, Citation Award 2009 IIDA SW Chapter PRIDE, Award of Merit for Public Facility
Lee Swanson, AIA, LEED AP lswanson@rkarch.com www.rkarch.com