New York Public Library, The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL)

New York, USA
Photo © John Bartelstone
Visualization © Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle
Visualization © Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle
Photo © John Bartelstone
Visualization © Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle
Visualization © Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle
© Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle
© Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle
© Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle
Visualization © Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle
Architects
Beyer Blinder Belle Architects
Location
455 5th Avenue, 10016 New York, USA
Year
2020
Client
New York Public Library
Collaborating Architect
Mecanoo
Landscape Architecture
Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects
Structural Engineering
Silman
MEP/FP Engineering
Kohler Ronan, LLC
Civil & Geotechnical Engineers, Surveyors
Langan
Lighting Design
Renfro Design Group
AV/Acoustics/IT/Security
Shen Milsom & Wilke
Code/Accessibility
Code Consultants International (CCI)
Sustainability
Atelier Ten
Food Service
Cini•Little International, Inc.
Vertical Transportation
Van Deusen Associates

Reimagining the New York Public Library’s Midtown Campus includes transformation of the system’s largest circulating branch into The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL), a state-of-the-art facility with expanded services and dramatic public spaces.

This largest public-private rehabilitation in NYPL’s history creates a lending library that will serve as both a model and catalyst for a rejuvenated library system. The transformed library, occupying a 1914 building originally designed for the Arnold Constable department store, adds 35 percent more public space and hundreds more seats. The renovation adds a floor to the roof, housing new programs and event space, as well as a wraparound public terrace. The circulating collection, with more than 1.7 million visits a year, is housed in “The Long Room,” offering five floors of browsable book stacks, and two floors of meeting and consultation rooms. A dedicated business library and an adult learning center each occupy a full floor. A floor is also dedicated to a children’s library and a separate library for teens. More than 11,000 SF of multipurpose space will be used for classes, events, one-on-one consultations, seminars, and a host of other programs, maximizing availability and diversity of public offerings. BBB is working in collaboration with Mecanoo on the Midtown Campus Renovation, which includes renovation of the historic and iconic Stephen A. Schwarzman Building across Fifth Avenue.

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Other Projects by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects

Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk
Norwalk, USA
Harvard Undergraduate House Renewal, Winthrop House
Cambridge, USA
New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
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National Museum of American Diplomacy
Washington, USA
Enoch Pratt Free Library
Baltimore, USA