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	Click image to enlarge
	P.S. 16, 1100 Architects – This library features a freestanding, serpentine bookcase, which serves both as a unique visual element and a divider to make the small space into three distinct areas. Says Juergen Riehm, FAIA, “The shape [of the bookcase] is echoed in giant Barrisol light fixtures that effectively illuminate, anchor, and further define the work areas.” Photo © Peter Mauss/Esto
	For many more images please see the September 2005 issue.

The designs themselves
Architect Richard Lewis has designed five of these projects to date and is slated to do five more. He has enjoyed the sense of common purpose that Robin Hood encourages among the architects. “It is so satisfying to see the positive effect of these libraries. That's why the issue of professional fees has been so unimportant,” he comments. The architects speak glowingly of their experience with Robin Hood, despite modest fees, which offset a portion of their direct costs. Michael Beirut, a partner at Pentagram who serves as graphic designer for the libraries, reiterated this experience. He described this work as the most fulfilling of his career. Perhaps the look on the kids' faces as they use the places explains the motivation of everybody involved in the initiative.

Looking at tight budgets and existing spaces, the architects found that some of their best tools for enlivening the libraries included customizing portable furniture, applying bright colors, and bringing in lots of daylight, original graphics, and whimsical light fixtures. While the libraries are ambitious for this context, they are often conservative for the architects themselves, many of whom have established reputations for innovative design. Marion Weiss, a partner at Weiss/Manfredi Architects, who designed a library at P.S. 42 in the first round, made a big impact simply by changing the library's location. Moving it from the fourth floor—where, in isolation from the center, it seemed to imply that reading belongs at the periphery of education—she placed it on the first floor, where it is visible from the street and makes clear the school's commitment to books and learning.

One of the challenges the architects faced was combining public and private areas in limited space. Some designs use bookcases, often on wheels, to define zones. Multifunctional furniture such as “flip-flop” desks and stools also help, along with curtains that can be drawn or opened as needed, and areas that can morph into proscenium seating, a stage, or work area.

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Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects completed one library in the first round and three more in the second. Partner Billie Tsien, AIA, said they learned that a great cabinetmaker is not only your friend but potentially the primary builder of the library, since he/she can produce the space-defining bookcases that can “make a room feel good.”

Beirut unified the projects with an identity built around the word l!brary, with an exclamation point in place of the i. Throughout the interiors, this iconic branding crops up in a variety of materials and forms—in signage, carpets, flooring, and the glazing of doors. Since the kids typically can only reach 5 to 6 feet up to the top shelf, most architects kept the shelves low but took advantage of generous ceiling heights by putting murals on the walls above the shelving.

Moving ahead
So far, the libraries have been big hits—not just with the design community, but more important, with the administrators, teachers, principals, and children who use them. Principal Robert Flores of P.S. 106 in Brooklyn says, “You can't fathom what this library has done for this community and the 650 students served by the school.” When the program began, few of the teachers believed they would see much outcome from the initiative; they had long become accustomed to unfulfilled promises and cuts in school funding. Yet after the completion of the third cycle, there will be more than 55 new libraries built with 595 more to go, to fulfill the Robin Hood Foundation's goal of completing a school library for each of the 650 public schools in New York City.

The projects have won eight AIA awards for excellence in design, and this year, Tanner received a special citation by the New York City AIA for the work, along with Christo and Jean-Claude for their Gates in Central Park—the only recipients of this award in 2005. The good will, strong design, and civil virtue of these projects are hard to quantify.

And now the initiative is having an impact beyond New York. Baltimore launched a similar program in its public schools in 2001. The first library, Southeast Middle School, should open this fall. Designed by Alexander Design Studio, it won a Baltimore Chapter AIA award as an unbuilt project. With funding from grants raised by Baltimore's Board of Education, the city is preparing to expand the program. “We enlisted the help of 12 architects to do 12 more libraries for the schools,” says Alexander. While Robin Hood's library initiative is 100 percent in New York City, the idea of public/private partnerships to effect change in student performance and schools nationwide is both its promise and example. This remarkable project has drawn people together in creative and meaningful ways, bringing attention to communities that sorely need it.

While the Robin Hood Foundation makes libraries happen, Common Ground creates housing and community development projects for New York's homeless and underprivileged. Read about its most recent undertaking—restoration of the Prince George Ballroom, a unique public/private endeavor here.