“It’s been humbling and inspiring to work together with the City of Winter Park and the many local champions of this project to realize this 21st century prototype of a multi-purpose knowledge campus in the public realm. As a centerpiece of the revitalized MLK Jr. Park, the new campus is designed as a robust space for community gathering, edification and empowerment.”
– David Adjaye
Total Project Budget $41.7M
Size Library: 35,155 sqft
Events Center: 18,200 sqft Porte Cochère: 2,457 sqft
DESIGN TEAM
Design Architect
Adjaye Associates
Architect of Record
HuntonBrady Architects
Acoustical Design
Gary Seibein
Civil Engineer & Landscape Architect
Land Design
Envelope Consultant
Thornton Tomasetti
Food Service Design
Phil Bean
General Contractor
rasfield & Gorrie
Owner’s Representative
The Pizzutti Companies
Signage Consultant
Poblocki
Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire Protection Engineer + Audio Visual & Security
TLC Engineering
PROGRAM
Library
- Collection spaces
- Computer lab
- Indoor auditorium
- Makerspaces
- Youth Spaces
- Recording Studio
- Entrepreneurship Center with technology portals, a business center, and continuing education spaces
Events Center
- Grand Ballroom for large gatherings, meetings, and events [up to 250 seated at tables or 320 seated theater-style]
- Rooftop Meeting Room [up to 50 guests]
- Rooftop Terrace overlooking Martin Luther King, Park [up to 150 guests]
- Tiedtke Amphitheatre for events and performances
- Tiered outdoor seating for event viewing or simply relaxing
- Pre-event rooms for weddings and special occasions
Porte Cochère
- Easy & convenient pick up/drop off of guests
WINTER PARK LIBRARY & EVENTS CENTER
Winter Park, Florida
Sited on the Northwest corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, this new civic and cultural hub embodies the values of the park’s namesake and is envisioned as a space for community empowerment and edification. As part of an extensive revitalization of the park, the new hub is in harmony with the unique tropical ecology of the site and is conceived as a micro-village of three pavilions, each of different scale and function but which share a common formal language. The village is comprised of a new two-story library, an event center with rooftop terrace, as well as a new welcome portico that ushers users from the street and unifies the three structures. Guided by biophilic design principles, all three pavilions–composed of rose-pigmented concrete– rest on a raised belvedere that provides idyllic views onto Lake Mendsen , increasing connectivity to the park’s wellness offerings and supporting a new network of exterior green community spaces that run between the three structures.
Arches, inspired both by local fauna and the region’s vernacular architecture, establish the form of the pavilions, with vaulted rooflines and sweeping windows creating a porous relationship between interior and exterior, drawing natural light deep into the buildings. The diverse program includes flexible floor plates for both the library and events center, encouraging cross-pollination and maximizing adaptability for each.
The library’s open plan supports collection spaces accessible to all ages and abilities, interactive youth and children areas, an indoor auditorium, maker-spaces and technology portals, an entrepreneurship center, and continuing education spaces, extending the means by which the entire community can interact, learn, and gather. These open spaces are framed by four timber-lined cores that contain Winter Park’s historical and archival collection spaces, support zones, and private reading rooms.
The events center features a flexible auditorium space and a rooftop terrace that offers expansive views of the lakeside park setting. Creating parity between the civic library space and the commercially focused event center, both buildings feature a signature sculptural stair.
As an ensemble, the Winter Park Library & Events Center comes together as a space of social gathering, intellectual nourishment, and enhanced connection to its natural tropical context.
SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES
Stormwater Irrigation
Stormwater management is centralized below the parking lot structure. Stormwater percolates through the porous parking structure to a subbase of granite and eventually collects in the adjacent Lake Mendsen after the surge. As part of the irrigation system, the water is then reused to hydrate the lush, natural landscape surrounding the library.
Solar Panel Energy Production
Solar panel modules installed with a total of 25.1 KW capacity. Annual production is estimated to be 37,865 KWH.
Locally Sourced Materials
- All exterior materials are registered in Florida
- Pre-cast façade material within 25 miles of the site
- All vegetation is native and regionally sourced
- All interior materials are nationally sourced
SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES
Passive Design Strategies
- Building overhangs provide direct shading especially with south facing
- Curved exterior walls provide wings to help shade the glass along the
- Angled glass provides lower angles of solar incidence that allow more reflection of direct sunlight thereby reducing the solar heat and gain, while providing natural
- Continuous exterior insulation on the precast concrete reduces direct energy loss through the
- High thermal mass structure provides means to absorb heat and humidity thereby reducing peak loads and allowing space temperature and humidity to be more
- Orchestrated orientation of the three structures work off of each other to create moments of shade to programs of Events Center provides shade for Library events in the morning, Library provides shade for the Events Center in the late afternoon.
The orientation of the three structures is based off of the solar path enabling the Events Center to provide shade to the Library for morning programming while the Library provides shade to the
Events Center for late afternoon activity. The orientation of the two buildings also provides a shaded micro climate between the Library and Events Center further connecting the public space of the campus.
ABOUT ADJAYE ASSOCIATES
Since establishing Adjaye Associates in 2000, David Adjaye has crafted a global team that is multicultural and stimulated by the broadest possible cultural discourse. The practice has studios in New York, London, and Accra with work spanning the globe. The practice’s most well-known commission to date, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), opened in 2016 on the National Mall in Washington, DC and was named “Cultural Event of the Year” by The New York Times.
Today the portfolio continues to evolve with major cultural and civic projects, including: The Abrahamic Family House, an interfaith complex in Abu Dhabi, UAE; the Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA) in Benin City, Nigeria; the new George Street Plaza, a public plaza community building and artwork in Sydney’s Central Business District; The Africa Institute in Sharjah, UAE; District Hospitals in multiple locations across Ghana; a new home for The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in Johannesburg, South Africa; a new facility for the Princeton University Art Museum; the National Cathedral of Ghana in Accra; the Liverpool Waterfront Transformation project; and the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, situated in London next to the Houses of Parliament.
The firm has received widespread recognition for its contributions to architecture. Adjaye was announced the winner of the 2021 RIBA Royal Gold Medal, considered one of the highest honors in British architecture for significant contributions to the field internationally.
In his award citation, the 2021 RIBA Honours Committee explained, “Through his work as an architect Sir David Adjaye speaks confidently across cultures, disciplines, politics, and
continents. His body of work is global and local, finely attuned as it reflects and responds to context and community, climate, and culture.”
CITY OF WINTER PARK
One of the finest cities in the United States, Winter Park, Florida, is considered by many to be the premier urban village in the sunshine state. With its rich heritage, strong sense of community, vast parks system, diverse economic base, and beautiful chain of lakes, the city
provides a high quality of life to both its residents and visitors alike. Located just three miles north of Orlando in Orange County, the city is 10-square miles with over 30,000 residents. Winter Park is known for its Old World charm, elegant homes, quaint bricked streets, extensive tree canopy, first-class shopping and dining experiences, world-class museums and a variety of educational institutions and opportunities.
WINTER PARK LIBRARY (WPL)
Founded in 1885, the Winter Park Library (WPL), a 501c3 non-profit, has grown from a simple collection of books on Miss Evaline Lamson’s front porch to a world-class library serving the Winter Park community and surrounding areas. Delivering hundreds of classes and events with tens of thousands in attendance each year, the WPL continually evolves based on residents’ changing needs and provides a powerful platform for education, literacy, and illuminating experiences. The Winter Park Library aspires to be the intellectual gathering place that unites and inspires our community by connecting people to the knowledge and resources they need.
