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All photos ©
James Steinkamp
Photography

First (top) and second (bottom) floor plans of the library. Courtesy of Perkins&Will

Branch of the DC Public Library (DCPL) was one of “The library benefited greatly from its siting, as
the architectural clunkers, and was located in a park a stand-alone building adjacent to an urban park and
setting that never lived up to its potential. at the end of a pedestrian axis,” said Carl Knutson,
DCPL is in its second decade of major facilities AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, principal and design director
improvements, resulting in many exemplary at the DC office of Perkins&Will, yet the original
buildings—both new and renovated—some of which building’s design ignored this positioning. The new
have been featured in this magazine. Southwest’s building occupies more or less the same footprint as
time finally came in 2016, following a failed bid by a its predecessor, but the similarities stop there. The new
developer to relocate the library to the ground floor of Southwest Branch—complemented by refinements to
a new nearby apartment building (in exchange for the the abutting park by Landscape Architecture Bureau
land). Southwest residents, led by Friends of Southwest (LAB), which also designed the landscape for the
Library, rejected this deal, setting the stage for DCPL to library building—takes an entirely different approach,
initiate an alternative. shrewdly turning liabilities into strengths and creating
a bona fide neighborhood landmark.

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