IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 42

Design Decoded McAllen Public Library

By

Stephen Treffinger
where

A winner of the 2012 Library Interior Design Award tells a story of adaptive reuse, community outreach, and inventive problem solving. In converting an abandoned Walmart into a public library, MS&R was inspired by an intriguing aspect of the southern Texas locale. Sited in the Rio Grande Valley, just a stone’s throw from the Mexican border, McAllen serves as a crossroads for thousands of migrating birds, insects, and mammals. Which explains the firm’s overarching design concept: movement. That theme also addresses one of the project’s central challenges: helping direct the flow of foot traffic through the sprawling volume—the square footage of two and a half football fields.

McAllen, Texas
desiGNer

Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle, Minneapolis
photoGraphy

And since the facility was to double as a de facto community center, it needed to accommodate a variety of groups and functions. MS&R responded by incorporating a 180-seat auditorium, two gathering hubs linked by a moveable partition, large conference rooms, study rooms, and a gallerylike lobby that can house revolving exhibitions by local artists. Serving a diverse populace and equally diverse activities, the library is an ecosystem as complex as the one that sparked its design. Associate Steven Rothe and senior associate Leanne E. Larson, IIDA, talk us through the details.

Lara Swimmer

42



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012

IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012
Contents
Contributors
From IIDA
Behind the Issue
Design Dialogue
Getting It, Together
What Clients Want: Product Manufacturers
Paths for the Protégé
Design Decoded
Resources
Behind the Design
Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Cover2
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 1
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 2
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Contents
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 4
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 5
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Contributors
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 7
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - From IIDA
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 9
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Behind the Issue
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 11
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Design Dialogue
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 13
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 14
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 15
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 16
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 17
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Getting It, Together
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 19
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 20
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 21
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 22
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 23
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 24
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 25
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - What Clients Want: Product Manufacturers
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 27
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 28
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 29
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 30
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 31
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 32
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 33
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Paths for the Protégé
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 35
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 36
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 37
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 38
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 39
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Design Decoded
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 41
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 42
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 43
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 44
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 45
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 46
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 47
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 48
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 49
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Resources
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 51
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 52
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 53
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Behind the Design
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 55
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Cover3
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Cover4
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