South Burlington Library

South Burlington Library

Burlington, VT

RATIO collaborated successfully with a prominent architectural firm, Wiemann-Lamphere Architects, Inc., to design a three story building combining the best of library practices with the best of community values. The 50,000 SF space will serve as South Burlington’s new Library, City Hall, and Senior Center and provide a gathering place for community in the heart of City Center. The Library will be approximately 35,000 SF and has been designed to serve as the “living room” of the community replacing an existing storefront facility in a shopping mall.

In collaboration with Wiemann-Lamphere Architects, Inc.
Client
City of South Burlington
Size
50,161 SF
Complete
2021

To begin the design process, the team held public sessions, met with current library patrons, visited with local students, and hosted meetings with community organizations to generate strong support and hundreds of ideas to develope a community center and library unique to the South Burlington community. The team then created three options for the proposed civic center and presented them at a series of public meetings. Comments were gathered from those meetings resulting in a preferred option, which was then presented in a public forum and resulted in a strong consensus moving forward.

The first floor of the new City Center features a common lobby for a performance venue, Senior Center, Children’s Library, and an inviting fireplace for patrons to drink coffee and browse the current best in print. The second floor accessed by a grand staircase featuring a large overhead skylight leads patrons to the adult collections and teen library. A variety of sizes of meeting rooms and study rooms are available to patrons on a reservation basis.