Recognizing that the way we research, learn and communicate is evolving, this project refreshes the Welles-Turner Memorial Library to best serve the current and future needs of the growing Town of Glastonbury. The library is comprised of flexible spaces that allow for small group individual study, large group instruction, and innovative thinking. A central commons space was created and provided with movable furniture that may be re-arranged to seat an audience of over one hundred. The children’s area is enlarged, provided with age appropriate stack heights, increased daylight and access to a newly paved children’s terrace. The relocated young adult area is furnished for small group individual study and technological collaboration with direct access to the new “maker space”.
The design for the Welles-Turner Memorial Library is fresh and modern, while retaining historical and traditional elements that carefully knit the building into the existing contextual fabric of the town. With deference to the original building, which was constructed on the site of the former home of its first benefactor Harriet Welles Turner Burnham, the addition exterior is clad with materials reminiscent of the Town’s rural past, such as stone walls and clapboard siding. Modern windows, skylights, and energy-saving LED lighting wash the interior with light and connect it viscerally with its surroundings.