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Home » Portola Branch Library

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ProjectsBuildings by TypeLibrary Design

Portola Branch Library

March 16, 2011
KEYWORDS San Francisco
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Program: A single-story, 6,300-square-foot public library on a residential street, with stacks and periodicals along the south wall and a children's room, a program room, and staff offices along the north. A side garden borders the children's room and program room, which also has a separate entrance from the outside.

Design concept and solution: To integrate a civic building into a residential context, the architects wanted to strike a balance between exposing and obscuring: much as a house does, the library brings in light without fully revealing the activity within. On the southern facade, a sequence of tall "shutters" resembling the pages of open books offers shade and privacy, while tall windows tucked behind the folds bring in a play of daylight that changes throughout the day. The shades' interior bays double as private reading spaces that together form a kind of indoor porch. A stretch of skylights spans the length of the library and divides the public program from staff spaces. To underscore the residential motif, the architects clad the library with shiplap wood siding, which they also used on the interior in rust red and in a natural wood stain.

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