Gentry Public Library
The 100-year-old abandoned brick structure in the heart of the town was a historical, important building that the community wanted to remain visually intact while transforming the interior into a space that facilitated town activities.
A new modern public library and community room are surgically placed in the 100 year-old brick shell of a former hardware store on Main Street in a small Arkansas town. The existing brick structure, though of little architectural value, was desired by the community to remain visually intact at the exterior. The scarred and patched building is thus conceived as an historical artifact; its ruined state transformed by the addition of steel and glass volumes that encase existing window openings and brick ornament, infill existing openings, and selected walls.
These transparent volumes act as display cases oriented from the interior towards the city, presenting the building and its artifacts to the public, extending the gritty expressive character of the library with another layer of time and modernity, in effect, a new civic presence for the town of Gentry.
LOCATION / Gentry, Arkansas
BUILDING TYPE / Renovation & Addition
BUILDING SIZE / 13,200 GSF
COMPLETION DATE / 2001
AWARDS /
+ Renovations Magazine Design Awards Grand Award [2009]
+ Metropolitan Home 100 Best Designs (#27) [2009]
+ National AIA/ALA Library Design Award [2009]
+ Gulf States Regional AIA Design Honor Award [2009]
+ Arkansas State AIA Award [2008]
