Spiffed up and simplified
Downtown Lansing library makeover balances books and people
Lawrence Cosentino, Lansing City Pulse, March 08, 2017
Image: New Circulation Desk
Images Source: Lansing City Pulse
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Quote:
Lansing architect Todd Gute is a busy man, but he found time to go to an adult coloring session at the Capital Area District Libraries’ downtown Lansing branch last fall.
“My kids are too old and too cool to color with me anymore,” he explained.
Also, he needed the practice. His next job was to color in the whole library.
Gute is the project architect for the $670,000 makeover of the library’s first and second floors that will be unveiled in a series of events this month.
The renovation simplifies and opens up the interior, adds more places to sit and generally spiffs up the 1964 “Mad Men”-era interior of the glittering white rectangle at 401 S. Capitol Ave.
The makeover is a big step in the library’s 21st-century pivot from a maze of bookshelves to a flexible hub of information and social activity.
The project was paid for by CADL reserve funds and donations from Friends of the Libraries organizations.
The most dramatic part of the transformation will greet visitors right away.
Inside the front doors, a large, curved desk big enough for an airline check-in will suck patrons deeper into the library.
Simplification and de-cluttering are key goals of the project. Circulation and information services will both be found at the big new front desk, instead of separate stations. The old glass partition between the foyer and main floor, where people tended to clump like leaves blowing in from the street, is gone.
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