Stapleton Library

We were asked to design a re-conceived and enlarged branch library located in Stapleton, Staten Island for The New York Public Library. An empty adjacent lot was allocated for a 7,000 square foot addition to create a new library of 12,700 square feet that would better serve the community and its current needs.

The community was once home to an active seaport, breweries and local light manufacturing. Tappen Park, the center of the community, was a Victorian era square, ringed by the civic and commercial structures of Stapleton. A long decline in local manufacturing and the closing of the waterfront has led to a period of economic stagnation for the area. Currently, there is a large residential population, many of whom are immigrants, who use the library as both a resource and a public space.

The new library was intended above all to be an inviting, open, and accessible public space, in keeping with the NYPL vision of itself as a series and system of public resources for the local communities of New York City. The new library had to be on a single level, stitch new building to old, and handicapped accessible. An open plan, easily monitored by staff, that provided strategic spatial separations between children’s areas, teen area, and adult area was desired. The library had to be open and inviting, flexible, and robust.

Working with the sloping grade of the land, we sited the new building such that a new street entrance could be accessed from grade, without steps. Teen and adult reading and research areas are located in the new building, separated by a transparent community room. The original Carnegie library, which is immediately accessed off the new entry, was restored true to its original design, and functions as the children’s reading room.

Glue laminated timber was used to create an efficient, warm, and exposed structure for the new building. The new timbers speak to the original oak casework and shelving of the Carnegie library. Use of the shop fabricated timber allowed for the structure to be fabricated under controlled conditions, ensuring precision and consistency in the material and workmanship. Erection time on site was streamlined, enabling the structure to be erected quicker and made weather-tight faster. The library is lit by daylight via overhead skylights and through the fritted glazed facades. A radiant heating system efficiently warms the architectural grade concrete slab.

We worked closely with the New York Public Library’s administration and staff to understand their vision of a contemporary library. We worked closely with the existing Carnegie Library to understand its scale and character, with the desire to revitalize the historic structure’s potential and purpose. We sought to site the new library to create a clear public exterior space in front of the building, across the street from and with a strong visual and physical connection to Tappen Park, the Victorian center of the original community.

The library is the digital hub and resource for the neighborhood, providing Wi-Fi and computer terminals for students and residents. The library also lends movies, videos and music as part of its expanding services, While information is increasingly available and distributed in a digital format, i.e. formless medium, we sought in this building to assert the enduring relevance and primacy of the book. As such all walls are lined with bookshelves to a consistent height, putting the entire collection of the library within view, and within reach, of all its patrons.

The library provides an energized public space for the local community that is low income, with a large immigrant community and has suffered from years of economic hardship and neglect. We restored and reused the existing historical Carnegie library, a local landmark. It marks a significant public investment and resource for the local population, and cornerstone for the revitalization of a once vibrant neighborhood of Staten Island.

Stapleton Libray, Branch of the New York Public Library
Architect: Andrew Berman Architect
Structural Engineer: Gilsanz Murray Steficek
Mechanical Engineer: IP Group
Lighting design: Cline Bettridge Bernstein
Lanscape architect: WRT
Area: 12,700 sqft
Completion: 2013