Carbondale is a small mountain town in Colorado USA, home to a vocal community of foodies, recreationists, artists and eccentrics.
Slowness is a supportive component of the library experience, which relies on chance encounters with both library
materials and other patrons for its success as a public place.
An elaborated ceiling hierarchy is played off a uniform ground plane, creating varied spatial and day-lighting conditions across an open field of programmatic settings. This diagram encourages a choreography of meandering that occurs both inside, outside and across the thermal envelope.
A glazed entry portico at the north includes a channel glass screen that allows southern light to animate what is otherwise a cold, north-facing terrain. The play of alpine light informs the representational content of the public front of the library, utilizing the quality of this exceptional light and air for poetic ends, with this simple, yet responsive material.
